UK Gangs Launch ‘Fast & Furious-Style’ Highway Thefts On Trucks To Steal PlayStation 5s

The Times reports criminal gangs in the UK are launching daring raids on highways to steal PlayStations, TVs, mobile phones, cigarettes, and cosmetics from tractor-trailers, all while moving more than 50 mph. 

Since the beginning of the year, police say at least 27 examples of these highway heists have been reported to authorities, including crooks climbing on the hood of a vehicle with cutting gear to break into the back of tractor-trailers to steal merchandise. 

These highways thefts are something out of the Fast and Furious movies or Grand Theft Auto video games. Detectives are worried that criminals will be stepping up highway robberies ahead of Christmas. 

The National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (Navcis) urged trucking companies to increase security measures on their routes to thwart such thefts. In the first nine months of the year, Navcis said it received 3,055 notifications of cargo crime. 

The Times, citing one career criminal, said the weakest point of the supply chain, exposing valuable merchandise, are on highways, has increasingly become the focus for criminal gangs.  

Here’s an example of a highway theft in Romania, while others are taking place across the globe.

In Baltimore, Maryland, criminal gangs have been robbing USPS, FedEx, UPS, and Amazon vehicles, and in some cases, actually stealing the vehicles. 

We noted earlier that cargo theft across the US surged during the second quarter of the virus-induced downturn.