Retail Stores Face Rising Attacks as Cargo Crime Reaches the Shop Window

Supply chain crime applies to any losses up to the point of sale of goods to consumers and other buyers.

Over TAPA EMEA’s 25-year history, cargo crime trends have seen, and continue to see, major thefts of goods from warehouses. As facilities have become more secured, most losses have moved onto the road, with heavy goods vehicles and their loads targeted by organised crime on a daily basis.

More recently, perhaps reflecting the increased security applied to trucks, TAPA EMEA has seen more cases of criminals attacking Last Mile deliveries, targeting vans and drivers with generally less protection than HGV vehicles, and involving more stops and more time for drivers away from their vehicles and loads. The volumes and values of losses tend to be lower but so are the risks for the perpetrators of these crimes.

And, now, TAPA EMEA is seeing more incidents once again impacting facilities, this time supply chain stock held in retail stores. Since this category of crime was given a clear distinction in the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System (TIS) database, more losses from retail stores have been clearly identified, including 92 in July across 18 countries with losses exceeding €3.9 million.

Attacks on retail stores and shrinkage – the difference between existing stock and theoretical accounting stock – are rising at an alarming rate and involving everything from the theft of a box of nappies or a block of cheese through to cars being driven through shop windows and losses of high value products worth hundreds of thousands of euros.

Some of the recent data from a quick Google search emphasises the size of the threat:

In the United Kingdom, over 530,000 offences of shoplifting have been reported in the last 12 months, up 20% year-on-year.
In France, over 70,000 retail thefts reported to the police annually are said to cost businesses €7.2 billion, with 60% of thefts involving customers and a further 25% by employees.
In Germany, at study of nearly 100 retailers by the German Retail Institute revealed 2024 to be the worst ever year for shoplifting with an estimated €4.95 billion in losses.

Crimes involving attacks on Retail Stores in July included these incidents reported to TAPA EMEA:

€1 million – luxury handbags stolen from a store in Valencia, Spain.
€300,000 – jewellery stolen from a retail store in Naples, Italy.
€200,000 – another theft of handbags, this time in Tuscany, Italy.
€150,000 – high-end bicycles stolen from a store in France
€114,865 – some 100 phones and smartwatches taken from a shop in the United Kingdom

Shop thefts, of course, are nothing new. But, while lone shoppers stealing individual items collectively represent a significant and growing financial threat to retailers, businesses will also be increasingly concerned of a rising trend of organised crime involvement in such attacks.

Retail stores featured in nearly 14% of the cargo theft incidents reported to TIS over the 31 days of July.

Overall, 660 new crime reports were entered into the TIS database over the course of the month, with criminals active in 34 countries. Germany held on to its unwanted top spot for recorded cargo crimes in EMEA with another 174 incidents, >26% of the July total. Once again, Italy wasn’t too far behind, suffering 121 attacks on supply chains.

Eight other countries recorded double-digiti losses:

Spain – 88 cargo crimes reported to TIS, 13.3% of the July total
United Kingdom – 56 or 8.4%
France – 49 or 7.4%
Netherlands – 33 or 5%
Greece – 22 or 3.3%
South Africa – 18 or 2.7%
Poland – 15 or 2.2%
Russia – 11 or 1.6%

Financial losses for the 154 or 23.3% of crimes reporting a value to TAPA EMEA accounted for a daily average of €480,877 in July. In total, these 154 crimes produced a combined loss of €14,907,191, averaging €96,799 for each incident.

Major cargo crimes reported to TIS in July – 39 in total with a loss of €100K or more – produced an average loss of €325,522.

High value thefts from supply chains in July included:

€1,500,000 – the theft of jewellery and watches from a Railway Transportation Facility in Milan, Italy, on 19 July, which later resulted in the arrests of three Algerian nationals by Milan’s Railway Police’s Judicial Police Squad as part of their operation to suppress rail crime.
€1,000,000 – a more usual theft of ceramic dental implants and surgical instruments from an Origin Facility in Switzerland on 14 July.
€400,000 – three men were arrested after the theft of copper cable in Nantes, France, on 28 July.
€300,000 – Spanish police made several arrests after miscellaneous goods were stolen from an Origin Facility warehouse in Riba-roja de Túria, on 22 July.
€250,000 – 4km of copper cable was reported stolen from an Origin Facility in San Gregorio Magno in southern Italy on 26 July.
€250,000 – a Deceptive Pick-Up of food and drink products from a Maritime Transportation Facility in Italy on 1 July.
€200,000 – six people were arrested in connection with the theft of copper coils from an Origin Facility in Sora, Italy, on 2 July.
€200,000 – perfumes and cosmetics were stolen from a truck in Parma, northern Italy, on 5 July.
€200,000 – on 17 July, fine leathers were taken from an Origin Facility in Italy.
€100,000 – a consignment of brass valves was reported stolen from an Origin Facility in Castegnero, Italy, on 11 July.
€100,000 – another theft of perfumes. This crime on 28 July was recorded at an Origin Facility in Bomporto, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

TAPA EMEA also recorded 18 incidents with losses of between €50,000 and €100,000 in July, producing a total combined value of €1,291,400 or an average of €71,744. These thefts included:

€90,000 – 20 high-end bicycles were stolen from an Authorised 3^rd Party Facility in France on 2 July.
€80,000 – car batteries were taken from an Origin Facility in Sint-Truiden, Flanders, Belgium, on 1 July.
€80,000 – another attack on a retail store and the theft of nine top-of-the-range bicycles in Jesi, Marche, Italy, on 17 July.
€80,000 – the theft of a truck and its cargo of drinks on 9 July in Mallorca, Spain. A suspect was later arrested by police.

Losses were recorded in 21 TIS database product categories in July, outside of the 40% of incidents which only reported the goods stolen as miscellaneous or unknown. 13 product types suffered double-digit cargo theft incidents in July:

Fuel – 65 incidents or 9.8% of the July total
Metal – 64 or 9.7%
Cash – 42 or 6.3%
Tools/Building Materials – 39 or 5.9%
No Load (Theft of truck and/or trailer) – 35 or 5.3%
Bicycles/Two Wheelers – 25 or 3.7%
Food & Drink – 21 or 3.1%
Jewellery/Precious Metals – 18 or 2.7%
Cosmetics & Hygiene – 16 or 2.4%
Miscellaneous Electronics – 15 or 2.2%
Clothing & Footwear – 12 or 1.8%
Auto Parts – 12 or 1.8%
Tobacco – 11 or 1.6%

On a more positive note, incident information shared with TAPA EMEA in July includes a significant number of reports of arrests of suspects by law enforcement agencies operating across the Europe, Middle East & Africa region.

These police successes included the arrests of five people in Spain in connection with several robberies involving violence at the premises of meat companies in the port city of Huelva in the southwest of the country. The arrests were in connection to the thefts of hams as well as two warehouse robberies targeting alcoholic beverages. The stolen goods had a reported value of €250,000. Tools and a truck were also taken in a wave of incidents.

The police investigation identified an organised crime group specialising in the theft of food products. On the night of the robberies, the Civil Guard said the group stole a truck to transport the large quantity of stolen food products to Madrid for sale on the black market. More information of the latest cargo crimes reported to TAPA EMEA can be found in the TIS database. To report cargo theft intelligence, please contact tisteam@tapaemea.org