A recent cargo theft in Europe has police searching for clues to lead them to a sweet reward.
On Saturday, March 28, KitKat confirmed that a large shipment of the company’s chocolate treats had been stolen in transit across Europe. In total, the company said thieves made off with 413,793 – roughly 12 tons – of KitKat bars.
According to company officials, the truck disappeared last week while traveling from a manufacturing plant in Central Italy to its final destination in Poland. Both the vehicle and its contents remain unaccounted for.
Despite the loss, a spokesperson for KitKat seemed to take the news in stride.
“We’ve always encouraged people to have a break with KitKat—but it seems thieves have taken the message too literally and made a break with more than 12 tons (sic) of our chocolate,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
KitKat said there was no risk associated with the stolen candy, but did note concern over the product entering “unofficial sales channels across European markets.”
It turns out that even candy can be tracked. According to the company, all products have unique batch codes assigned to individual bars. Because of this, consumers and retailers can identify if the candy is part of the stolen shipment by scanning the on-pack batch numbers. If the chocolate matches the stolen goods, the person scanning the item will be given instructions on how to report it to the company.
“Whilst we appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes,” a company spokesperson said. “With more sophisticated schemes being deployed on a regular basis, we have chosen to go public with our own experience in the hope that it raises awareness of an increasingly common criminal trend.”
The company said it is working closely with local authorities as investigations continue. Police are asking that any relevant information be reported directly to law enforcement. LL
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