Philadelphia’s struggles with cargo theft continued this week with another overnight incident.
This one occurred just after 4 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at the Sysco facility near the intersection of South Seventh Street and Packer Avenue. According to police, six men stole three pallets of crab meat – valued at around $42,000 – from a truck parked overnight in the city’s South side.
As with most of the thefts during this ongoing spree, officers said the thieves broke into the tractor-trailer as it was parked overnight with the driver inside. The driver told police he was awoken when he felt movement coming from the trailer. When he went to check, he saw six men stealing boxes of crab meat from the truck.
An investigation into the theft is ongoing. Neither a description of the suspects nor their vehicle was made available, but police did say the six individuals were dressed all in black and wore masks.
The city has seen a surge in cargo theft incidents over the past year, with police warning truckers and carriers in July that it was “definitely a crime ring” that was responsible for the increase in thefts.
In August, thieves made off with $10,000 worth of tuna from a tractor-trailer parked overnight in city’s South side.
Three weeks prior to that incident, 12 pallets of beef were stolen from a refrigerated truck in the same part of the city.
In most instances, no injuries were reported as a result of the thefts. However, in April, a trucker was left injured after being assaulted and having his cellphone stolen when he attempted to stop the thieves.
Police are telling truckers not to intervene if they are the victim of a theft and to call 911 immediately.
That rise in cargo theft isn’t exclusive to the City of Brotherly Love. According to 2024 first-half data from Overhaul – an Austin, Texas-based supply chain risk management company – thefts in the United States saw a 49% “surge” during the first six months of the year when compared to the first half of 2023.
Danny Ramon is Overhaul’s director of intelligence and response for Austin. Despite theft numbers being at record highs throughout 2023 and into 2024, Ramon said the problem “is going to get worse before it gets better” and that thieves are beginning to perfect their art.
“They’re definitely getting better at targeting, and they’re refining their processes,” Ramon told Land Line. “You know, as time goes on, there’s a certain amount of tribal knowledge that is gained that these folks have experienced. They know what’s shipping out of certain origin shipping locations. They know what’s passing through receiving facilities … And they’re finding exactly what they’re looking for a lot more easily.” LL
Listen to the full interview with Danny Ramon of Overhaul below.
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