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It is the costliest crime in America, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Organized crime drives it, money fuels it, and it has gone international. It happens nearly three times a day somewhere in America, and in California it happens twice as often as anywhere else in the nation.
We’re talking about cargo theft — the high-cost, big-time crime that you’ve likely never heard about.
“It really is huge,” said California Highway Patrol officer Xavier Spencer. “We estimate nationwide that it’s a $35 billion loss annually just in cargo theft and obviously that only involves the cargo theft that we’re made aware of. A lot of these thefts are not reported.”
Spencer is part of the CHP’s Cargo Theft Interdiction Program or CTIP, and is one of 10 people on the force assigned to fight cargo theft full time in the state. He and just three other men cover the entire region north of Los Angeles County up to the Oregon border.
For the past three months the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit went undercover with CTIP investigators to expose this major crime. Reporters and producers went behind the scenes to track down stolen shipping containers in Stanislaus County; rode along on stings to look for lifted cargo in Gilroy; watched recovery operations at the Port of Oakland and reviewed surveillance video the team used to track down suspects.
“A lot of times these guys will go park their trucks at the truck stop and go inside and clean up or get something to eat and they come out and their trailers and tractors are gone,” Spencer said. “Somebody just stole it within 30 seconds.”
He says often times truckers pull up to an unmanned cargo truck, attach their cabs to the containers and drive away. Other times he says thieves will simply unlock the doors of the trailers and hand-unload the cargo inside. They make off with tons of merchandise — everything from electronics to drugs, computers to military supplies and weapons to wine — that they steal, hide in warehouses and then sell for profit.
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Last year the National Insurance Crime Bureau logged 1,215 cargo theft incidents across the country. That’s up 17 percent from 2010. According to a report from Cargo Net, an offshoot of NICB, California led all states with 304 occurrences of cargo theft in 2011. That’s more than $390 million in theft in the state in just the last two years alone. Texas was second on the list with 173 instances of cargo theft, followed by Florida with 146 occurrences.
Those three states plus New Jersey, Illinois and Georgia accounted for 75 percent of all cargo stolen off of American highways last year. According to the report, food was the most commonly stolen item, followed by electronics, metals and clothing. Data from Freight Watch International, a logistics security provider, the largest cargo heist last year happened in Fremont when drivers made off with $37 million dollars worth of microchips in one haul.
Victims of cargo theft frequently take big hits to their businesses. Griselda Bautista, owner of the Oakland-based warehousing company PCCS Inc., lost $65,000 worth of merchandise in 2008 when a trailer carrying a load of copy paper was lifted from her parking lot.
“It was picked off by a trucker,” Bautista said. “He just came in and broke the pin lock and took off. I couldn’t believe it. I was very upset. Everything that we went through, we lost. I mean, we almost went out of business the year after that because it was a hit that was a mark on your name.”
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Bautista eventually found the trailer in Oakland on International Blvd., but the cargo was gone.
“It’s American pirates — that’s what you got.” Bautista said. “We definitely learned a lesson about leaving a load out there that was unattended.”
In April Spencer filed a federal case that resulted in the indictment of five suspects accused of lifting more than $2 million worth of cargo over the past five years. The suspects involved in Bautista’s case are included in those charges. According to federal court papers, stolen cargo was traced to and from California and places like Alabama and Maryland, even South Korea and Israel.
The CTIP team says cargo theft operations are often times run by organized crime, and international in scope. In June Spencer’s colleague, CHP investigator Mark Locey intercepted a stolen cargo load of plastic resin worth $154,000 that was on its way to Asia.
“It eventually wound back up on the ship going to the Port of Hong Kong,” Locey said. “It had been sold to a company in China.”
Locey prevented the delivery of the plastic resin once he discovered that it had been stolen. He turned it back around in the Pacific Ocean, and seized the load once it returned to the Port of Oakland.
Over the past four months, Locey located more than $500,000 worth of cargo allegedly stolen by the same person who reportedly took the cargo load of plastic resin. That man is now facing 14 felony counts associated with stealing and selling cargo and shipping containers.
Right now cargo theft is a low-risk, high reward proposition because the crime carries minor criminal penalties. Steal a half-million dollars-worth of cargo and a criminal might get six months in jail, according to various law enforcement agencies. Compare that to ten years in prison if a thief gets caught with a half million dollars-worth of cocaine.
“It’s very difficult to prove that everything you recovered was stolen,” Spencer said. “So, sometimes District Attorneys are not willing to take a case that’s going to take a little bit of work.”
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Partly for that reason this crime has largely been kept a secret for years, even as it grows in California and across the country. The CTIP team says that the problem is also being kept quiet by the very industry being victimized.
“Some smaller companies would rather not let other trucking companies know they suffered a loss due to the fact that they don’t want to lose business,” Spencer said. “So, they’ll just have the insurance company pay it off and really not report the losses, so there are a lot we don’t know about.”
And that, says the men who fight this every day, costs each of us in the form of higher prices passed on to consumers as companies lose more and more money off of stolen cargo loads.
“Every consumer that goes into the store to buy something,” Locey said, “chances are they are paying for the cost of this type of theft.”
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Doesn't it make your blood boil when those pirates attack off the coast of Africa? Of course truck hijacking is not a new phenomenon, it is just new here. It makes you wonder how much goes missing from freight trains? They are both just a target of opportunity.
It is not new here and hijacking of loads have been occurring since man first started to carry items, From thefts of individuals to loads from horse drawn wagons to trucks and even railway cars, These have been happening here.
Maybe trains should be reconsidered by some of these companies?
Wonder if a railcar, sitting in a yard/siding or moving through the mountains at 20 mph would be any safer. I doubt it.
I used to drive for a company that hauled loads for Best Buy,
They had theft problems like that also.. they started issuing harden locks for the back doors, and some kind of seals that were hard to cut..
They put lock outs on the trucks so when I driver left the rig to eat or ? the theives would have to distroy the dash to move the truck.
They also held drivers accountable for the loads..
When a load of electronics can be worth over a million dollars.. for some it's worth the risk..
Let me add that this has gone on for years.. 30yrs ago, if you drove thru the wrong neighborhood in Chicago, the locals would try to unload your trailer while you were driving down the street!
You are absolutely correct, This has been going on since before trucks and highways, Loads were stolen/hijacked back when horses and wagons were used, This in not new and as long as we have people who would rather steal than work we will have this problem,, Much of the hijacking and subsequent remarketing is done via organized criminal groups, The same people who were involved in bootlegging alcohol during prohibition were involved in hijacking truck loads of alcohol when prohibition was repealed, In fact after the repeal of prohibition when hard liquor was again legal the criminal groups had easy targets simply hijacking loads of alcohol already on US roadways and did not have to worry about smuggling it across the Canadian or Mexican border or thru the ports if brought in by ship, Alcohol and tobacco products are prime targets because of the taxes that add so much to the cost of these items.
Only Billions?
The pirates in Congress are costing us TRILLIONS!
Right. It costs the American Tax Payer $5 Billion per day to keep Barack Hussein Obama in office.
Specially when Pres. Obama and his people looked the other way with the company of Solyndra and 9 other companies that were going to do well here. How many new jobs for those company created? Oh yes 10 miserable jobs. But President Obama doesn't want a full investigation. Those companies gave huge $$$ for his then Campaign 2008. He declared that his Administration was going to be TRANSPARENT!
Prayers going up for all in the Sikh community.
OH NO, trucks are getting ripped off. maybe the Gov can think of a way to use this for taking away our guns too.
Truckers are paid to look the otherway, while their Cargo is stolen. For a Trucker to make a good living he must stay on the Road in all conditions 24/7 365. So, Mr. Mafia man offers him $10,000 to just look the other way. Take a vacation, buy the little lady something, take the kids to disney land.
Truckers who are hauling "Expensive Cargo" or "Military Cargo". They know they have hit the big time, the big payoff. Up to a $1,000,000. On the Black market or to Terrorists these loads can bring big big big bucks.
The Union Truckers and the Mafia have always teamed up to rob the Tax Payers Blind.
This nation is becoming a lawless wasteland as humanity devolves into antisocial violent subhumans. And the bad thing is that it is not only America, it is mankind in general. I hold little hope for humanity's future.
Two words for you: insurance fraud. Most of these are scams to cheat and steal from the insurers.
Wow they just bringing this to light wow !
Ha..They act like this is something new. Where I grew up on the east coast the Italian Mob has been making a living off stolen cargo for years. I can remember buying cartons of cigarettes at my local bar for $1 each. You knew they were stolen not just because they were so cheap but mostly cuase the cellaphane had no State Tax stamp on it. I remember buying new Sony Trinatrons for $50 a piece out of that same restaurants warehouse. Still in the box brand new factory sealed. "Cash only". One time we asked where the owner was getting all this stuff he said he had a guy working the freight warehouses at the airport and would tip his mafia buddy off when a high dollar container came in and alert them the second it left the yard so they could hijack it. From TVs to stereos you could buy anything you wanted at cost at that little warehouse out back. Even more so at Christmas time when you needed to buy Christmas gifts for the family. One year I gave nothing but TVs to every member of my family. I was very well liked for my generousity that year..
so....you are basically as big of a thief as the mafia!!! thanks for your help!!! people like you who enable and look the other way...or encourage as you have done...is why the problem exists and continues to grow. you should go to jail. pretty sure buying stolen merchandise is a CRIME!!! you are a criminal!!!
These crimes can be slowed way down if the cheap trucking companies would put GPS or Lo Jack in their trucks or hidden in the cargo. The crooks aren't that good. They simply wouldn't have time to look through the whole trailer to see if there was a device that can track the truck. So, I don't get it.
America's most famous Criminals became famous during the "Great Depression".
We are living a "New Depression" taking place in a new era.
When "Society's financial back is against the wall, Crime is sure to follow".
America is facing a continued Loss of jobs, lower family incomes, limited opportunities; aggressive competition from many foreign manufacturers, the threat of terrorism...
all of this is being "overseen, overlooked and ignored" by our Federal Government.
Crime?
I'd say this is only the "beginning" and things will continue their downward spiral until?
Hijacking of loads has been going on since man first started to transport things of value via other than by hand and it even happen then, It has happened when loads were on horse driven wagons and continues to this day, It really had very little to do with the depression and more with the inability of organized law enforcement to keep up with organized crime.
We need a new "Devils Island". A large scale operation to apprehend theives in our country would be welcomed. This is one area that our Government could expand, without complaints
Not enough is being done. We need serious, no parole Federal prison time.
Speedy . . You don't get it. Renee above is Correct! Most of these drivers/small companies would do this anyway. Even in the best economy. In the Eastern European immigrant trucking community There is plenty of insurance fraud. Heck one member of the community runs an (small) insurance biz and insures his friends whose loads mysteriously disappear, trucks catch fire & drivers get injuries etc.
Insurance . . What a wonderful invention!!!
They need to get serious on the amount of time they get for stealing $500,000 worth of product. I had guys come through doing more time for a lot less amount, and I mean only a few thousand dollars. One person had it right... you steal, cut off your hands. The next time....not life, but DEATH. Theft will go down very fast.
'You may know who we are, but we KNOW who YOU are.'
This reminds me of the 1960's & 1970's when the Illegal organizations (Mafia) used to stealed trucks and their merchandise. While the owners will losed big time. Did the authorities checked the owners of these companies, employees real background and from where the owners are?
Hey, its not stolen, it fell off the truck!
"and in California it happens twice as often as anywhere else in the nation"
And guess which state has the largest inflow of illegals? Connect the dots.
2012-
Actually they are not illegal. Please look up the North American Union, started in 2005. This will explain the current condition of our country.
Dude, READ the article next time.. it's ORGANIZED CRIME, not some border-jumper looking to get a job in some kitchen so he can live the "American Dream" of eating Big Macs and wearing Levi's.
Dude Organized criminals comes in all flavors and yes even some of those border jumpers are members of organized criminal groups..In Mexico they call them Cartels
Most cargo thefts are inside jobs. The majority of the time thieves already know what are in the semi trailers before they break into or steal them. A thief can sit outside a warehouse knowing what is stored inside, wait until the driver takes his mandatory break and then just break open the doors(doesn't take anything more then a crow bar). Tracking devices don't do much good. Trailers can be emptied out in less then an hour which is alot faster then most police will respond to a theft call.
I like the way the article ended.....every consumer that walks into a store ends up paying for this theft.
As if we wouldn't be overcharged otherwise.
These shipments are insured.
Besides, I love hearing about corporate America getting ripped off.
How's that shoe fit eh?
This is old news, the mafia has been doing this for nearly a century now. It is just business as usual with the teamsters and organized crime. Elimate the insurance and the crime does down. Otherwise, it is highly profitable to have your merchandise stolen, report it, get the insurance payout, recover your product for pennies on the dollar and resale it to the consumer. So what. Anyone really think that the politicians are willing to take away the bread and butter of organized crime? Last politicians that really tried had the names of Kennedy and we all know what that end result was.
I understand that some of the victims are innocent but there is also corruption in the trucking industry. Many have purchased their licenses from without ever going to school or taking the test and there are other truckers that sell-out to theifs.
Why do they use the word "NATIONS" when they're really talking about the corrupt Republican corporates & their INSURANCE COMPANIES losing BILLIONS! How about the MANY BILLIONS the 99% American People are LOSING to these CORPORATES and their ONE-PERCENTERS & CEO'S????
Sending thieves to prison is stupid. I doesn't rehabilitate the criminal. It doesn't give restitution to the victim. It cost the taxpayers billions of dollars in prisons, housing and health expenses. It doesn't discourage crime because as in the case of these criminals, they may get 6 months for a half million dollar heist. Finally, the consumer winds up paying for it in the form of higher prices.
What they did in ancient Israel worked much better. The criminal had to pay back the victim twice the value of what he stole. If he couldn't pay it back, he had to work it off. If he refused to work it off, he was executed. Don't tell me that wouldn't deter crime.