CARGO
CRIME
Rich
pickings
Here, Thorsten Neumann, President &
CEO of TAPA EMEA, brings Air Logistics
International up to date on the less
savoury side of the freight business.
Crime pays.
At least that seems to
be the case when it
comes to misappropriating
cargo, which is positively
booming as an illegal activity.
In terms of cargo crime in the
Europe, Middle East & Africa
(EMEA) region, two things are
very clear: the growth of
incidents is accelerating, while
there remains a severe lack of
information sharing on the
majority of cargo crimes
known to be taking place
across the region.
The TAPA Incident
Information Service (IIS)
Annual Report only carries
details of cargo thefts notifi ed
to the Association. In 2019,
this data consisted of 8,548
incidents, a rise of 114.7% over
2018, and the highest total
recorded in the region in
TAPA’s 23 year history. Only
39.1% of these incident reports
disclosed any fi nancial data
but the combined value of
these crimes alone was over
€137m. During the year, we
recorded criminal attacks on
all modes of transport: air
cargo, ocean freight, road
freight and rail freight were all
targeted, with the average
value of major crimes (those
with a value of €100,000 or
more) rising substantially
year-on-year to reach
€536,889.
These cargo thefts were
recorded across 48 countries in
the EMEA region while the
daily loss for all crimes
reported to TAPA with a value
was €367,724.
Seven fi gure losses
Cargo stolen is as varied as the
location, but for heists over
€1m in value, there follows the
richest hauls in 2019.
Topping the list was
jewellery and precious metals
that were stolen from an
Origin Facility in Gauteng
province, South Africa: this
was put at €17.4m. Elsewhere,
a €10m shipment of cash was
stolen from the cargo hold of
an aircraft at Albania’s Tirana
airport, whilst clothing to the
value of €5m was taken from a
truck in Helmond in the
Netherlands.
Around €3.4m in cash was
removed from a transit vehicle
in Aubervilliers, France, and a
€3m loss was recorded in
Amsterdam, when phones,
drones, cameras and other
high-tech equipment were
removed from an Aviation
Transportation facility. Cash to
technologies deployed at major
logistics facilities, which are
often certifi ed by our TAPA
Facility Security Requirements
industry standard, as well as
the high number of people
working in these operations,
means fewer than 5% of cargo
crimes are now what we record
as Theft from Facility.
Cargo on board a truck is
seen by the criminal as a far
easier target; and attacks on
drivers can be extremely
violent or threatening.
Targeting the load
By far the most common types
of cargo crime have involved
offenders cutting holes in
the tarpaulin sides of trucks
or breaking open the rear
door locks and security seals
to access the goods inside.
Helping to facilitate these
crimes is the severe lack of
secure parking sites for trucks,
particularly in Europe; so when
drivers need to take mandatory
rest breaks, they are often left
with no option but to park in
lay-bys, at motorway service
stations or on industrial estates,
where they regularly fall victim
to attack. Often, we see a very
high number of attacks on
vehicles at a single location
during the night. At one site in
Europe in November last year,
some 74 trucks were targeted
within a few hours.
The criminal modus
operandum within the EMEA
region is varied. There is the
so-called ‘blue light’ operation,
where thieves pose as police or
traffi c offi cers in order to bring
trucks to a stop. This is a
particularly regular tactic in
South Africa, but we have also
recorded similar incidents in
other parts of the region.
Then there is the use of GPS
the value of €2.3m was taken
from a transit truck in
Calabria, Italy, while €2.1m
was appropriated in various
goods from an Origin Facility
in Dubai. The list goes on…
Perfume valued at €1.9m taken
in Oxford, the UK, which also
saw sports equipment worth
€1.4m stolen from a trailer at a
motorway service area in Kent.
Computers and laptops,
electronic goods, vehicles and
even toys all feature in the
seven digit theft list: criminals
are organised and they know
what they are looking for.
The fact is, by far the
greatest risk to goods moving
in supply chains is when they
are on the road. The high
levels of security systems and
34 June 2020 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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