DAREDEVIL crooks are jumping on to moving trucks on motorways, then breaking in and throwing the goods to gang mates in vehicles following behind.
So far this year, there have been ten of the Mission: Impossible-style raids, with £500million of goods such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops being stolen and sold online within hours.
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Truck crime specialist PC Michael Dawber said: “It’s like something from a movie or a circus act.
Usually several vehicles will follow a truck, typically between 11pm and 2am, on a long, straight dual carriageway or motorway.
“One vehicle will scoot up to the back of the truck at exactly 56mph. It will butt up as tight as it can to the back, then someone will climb out of the sunroof, bounce down on the bonnet, then cut the lorry door locks and jump in, all on the move.
“A van then pulls in behind and they then throw the goods back to someone in that”
“Finally the van returns and they cross back over.
“Last year, a Transit van was recovered with a hole in its roof. It had been used in a robbery on the M1 where someone had thrown laptops to someone catching them behind.”
Lockable hatch
The “rollover” raids have led to 22 arrests since 2021. Most of this year’s have taken place in the Midlands, where warehouses storing electrical goods are plentiful.
Another 15 stationary lorries a day are being targeted nationwide while their drivers are stopped at traffic lights or taking a break.
Rhys Hackling, boss of Northants logistics firm Direct Connect, said: “It’s like the 1970s ‘off the back of a lorry’ culture, but much worse.
“Back then it was a driver giving a mate a few bits from a consignment that are sold down the pub.
“But now it’s much more sophisticated, with huge amounts of goods being stolen and sold. The Government needs to make the punishment fit the crime and ensure culprits are jailed.”
The Road Haulage Association is campaigning for cargo theft to be classed as a crime in its own right because currently it is only categorised as theft from a motor vehicle — the same as having your sunglasses stolen from the glove box — with a maximum sentence of seven years.
In 2014, a gang of 11 were jailed for just two years each after being caught on the M6 in Birmingham in a van with a home-made lockable hatch in its roof and power tools inside.
PC Dawber said: “If you rob a Post Office you might get away with £2,000 in cash. If you are collared for that, you will get 15 years in prison, and rightly so.
“So crooks have moved to less risky crimes such as cargo theft and fraud. A couple of years ago, £1.7million of cosmetics was stolen from a truck at Warwick Services.
Gangs patrol truck stops
“It had a retail value four or five times that much but is still classed as theft from a motor vehicle.”
Haulage boss Rhys, whose firm runs 18 trucks, said his drivers are being targeted two or three times a month. Gangs patrol truck stops and cut into up to a dozen vehicles to find items they can shift easily.
He said: “Sometimes you will see stolen products sold online within 24 hours of being taken. The chances of being caught are quite low.” He has installed metal-plated truck security curtains to stop the thieves, costing £950 per vehicle.
But Rhys’s experience is just the tip of the iceberg. In one robbery this year at a Banbury industrial estate in Oxfordshire, over £1.1million of goods was stolen, while a truck at Keele Services on the M6 in February lost £269,000 of cameras and other tech in a raid.
Easily identified trucks heading for supermarkets and High Street stores are popular with the gangs.
Sainsbury’s is now liaising with police to improve truck locks and offer guidance for vulnerable drivers. Intelligence suggests the gangs monitor depots to spot a truck’s route, then pass the details to associates.
Now products are being sold in plain sight, online, at competitive prices — and unwitting people are buying stolen goods.
PC Dawber
In one case last year, two trailer loads with £330,000 of alcohol destined for a supermarket were stolen from a haulage yard at night.
This year, Hampshire police swooped on a 13-strong gang travelling across the south to target trucks, who had committed £500,000 of thefts.
Police have set up the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service, which helps forces nationwide to fight vehicle crime. It’s funded by the logistics industry.
A spokesman said that last year, forces in England and Wales made 327 arrests linked to lorry cargo theft, and it helped in 48 operations against gangs.
The most stolen goods last year were fuel, tobacco, food and drink, clothing and shoes and electrical products.
PC Dawber said: “The days of Del Boy Trotter selling goods out of the back of his car in a pub car park at a massively reduced price are long gone.
“Now products are being sold in plain sight, online, at competitive prices — and unwitting people are buying stolen goods.”
