Spain Breaks 1000 Barrier

Recorded cargo crimes in Spain have broken through the 1,000 incidents barrier over the last 24 months, with reported losses from supply chains of some €11.5 million across all of the country’s regions, according to data reported to the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS).

Over this period, major cargo crimes of >€100K produced an average loss of €325,488, including such significant losses as:

•          €2,000,000 – phones stolen from an Origin Facility in Madrid

•          €1,000,000 – theft of a trailer loaded with computers/laptops in Zaragoza  

•          €600,000 – the violent hijacking of another shipment of phones while en route  

•          €550,000 – a consignment of car parts stolen in the Basque Country 

•          €500,000 – antigen tests taken from a storage facility in Badalona

•          €311,000 – clothing and footwear stolen from a trailer in Catalonia 

•          €300,000 – tools, televisions and bicycles taken from an industrial estate in Murcia 

•          €250.000 – 12 tonnes of chocolate stolen from a vehicle in Alicante

•          €230,000 – the theft of a shipment of air conditioners following a case of deception at a secure parking location in Madrid   

•          €140,000 – the loss of a shipment of bicycles at an unknown location

Reports to TAPA EMEA of cargo crimes in Spain also clearly indicate the activities of large Organised Crime Groups (OCGs).  Police officers arrested 18 members of an OCG following the theft of €300K of goods in Madrid. Other cases reported to the Association’s TIS cargo crime intelligence database included: 

•          Arrests of 16 suspects in connection to the theft of 58 tonnes of copper cable on behalf of a large criminal organisation. Police arrested suspects in the towns of Santa Amalia and Merida and recovered eight tonnes of copper cable previously reported stolen.

•          It’s not only high value loads which are being targeted by OCGs. In Coria del Rio, Seville, 11 people were arrested on suspicion of stealing 5,500 kgs of fruit worth a relatively low value of €13,000. 

•          The National Police confirmed the arrests of seven members of a suspected cargo theft gang in connection to incidents around Madrid. The group were finally apprehended when they attempted to steal a shipment of car engines worth €550,000 from a truck in unclassified parking location in the Basque Country. Law enforcement officers set up surveillance to  track the truck and arrested the gang while they were negotiating with their contacts to stolen car parts. 

•          12 months ago, police arrested seven members of a group accused of conducting at least 35 cargo thefts in Alicante and other provinces. Following the arrests, police officers recovered eight stolen vehicles, computer equipment, jewellery, watches, designer clothes, construction equipment, tools, and electric scooters.

•          The Civil Guard also arrested seven members of a cargo theft gang operating in Toledo, Spain, whose M.O. was to mainly steal electrical appliances. 146 appliances worth €65,000 were recovered during the police operation. 

•          Six offenders from a crime group operating in Madrid were taken into custody after stealing two trucks carrying €100,000 of household appliances. Police recovered the trucks and most of the stolen goods. 

•          Five people were arrested on suspicion of their participation in 23 cargo crimes involving violent robberies, again in the Madrid area. According to intelligence reports, the criminals cut the tarpaulins of trucks and trailers to identify the products inside. 

•          Last July, four people were arrested for stealing a truck and is cargo of 11 sofas from a company in Beniparrell, Valencia.

Vigilant spoke to Filipe de Almeida, Regional Lead of TAPA EMEA’s Iberian Peninsula Working Group, for his latest insight.    

“Currently the biggest issue we’re facing in the Iberian Peninsula is the alarming and increasing number of thefts in unsecured parking locations. Some identified ‘hotspots’ are in the regions of Catalonia and Aragon as well as along the E-80 route, but this type of incident is being reported across the whole region,” he said. 

Such thefts in unsecured parking places include these incidents reported to TAPA EMEA’s cargo crime intelligence database:

•          €311,000 – a truck and trailer parked in an unclassified service station parking location in Catalonia with no security measures lost this high value shipment of clothing and footwear  after criminals targeted the vehicle at night and broke open the lock of the trailer doors while the driver was sleeping in his truck. 

•          €150,000 – Police officers recovered a truck and cargo stolen in Coslada after receiving information that the stolen vehicle had been seen parked in Calle Abubillas in Pinto. 

•          €125,000 – Civil Guard officers arrested 4 suspects after a trailer loaded with electrical appliances was broken into at a rest area in Campotejar. 

•          €70,000 – 15 pallets of cosmetics products were stolen from a truck left in an unsecured parking location on an industrial area in Molina de Segura. 

In another type of M.O, seen in Castilla-La Mancha, a truck carrying a shipment of 106 televisions was stopped by fake police officers, who then stolen the cargo. 

To increase support for TAPA EMEA members’ supply chain resilience, the Iberian Working Group is focusing its efforts to increase the Association’s footprint in Iberia and to encourage businesses to implement TAPA EMEA’s common security standards. “This is not only to increase the security of their operations, but also to have a ‘common language’ when specifying security measures that need to be applied by any subcontractor. 

“This has started with a significant effort to provide adequate local language translations of the TAPA EMEA Standards and training materials because the language barrier will otherwise be a major constraint to the adoption of the Standards by local organisations. We’re now reaching out to the logistics community to spread the word about the intelligence, security standards, training and networking our Association provides,” Filipe added.

In Spain, the Working Group are reaching out to several of the country’s main security and logistics associations to develop partnership programmes. “Our hope is that the development of these partnerships will allow us not only to raise awareness of the TAPA EMEA Standards and, subsequently, the Association’s footprint in the region, but also to significantly increase the level of cargo theft incident data being fed into TIS to help companies understand the risks to supply chains across the Iberian Peninsula and make the most of the powerful features the tool provides to assist in cargo security and loss prevention,” Filipe added. 

“TAPA will also be present in the SIL event that will take place in Barcelona in 7th to 9th of June, with volunteers from the TAPA Iberian Working Group being present in our booth to ensure availability of information regarding TAPA Standards and TIS in local language.”

If you have intelligence to share on a cargo crime in Spain, incidents can be reported to TAPA EMEA at tisteam@tapaema.org. The names of anyone reported incidents or the companies which are victims of a cargo crime remain 100% anonymous.