Truck carrying $400K in lobster stolen after it left Taunton facility

Crime

CEO of provide chain firm says cargo vanished whereas en path to Costco shops.

Cooked lobsters sit on ice at Woodman’s in Essex. Erin Clark/Globe Employees

A truck carrying greater than $400,000 price of lobster meat vanished someplace between a Taunton warehouse and its Midwest Costco locations, in keeping with the Indiana-based freight firm accountable for the cargo.

Dylan Rexing, president and CEO of Rexing Firms, confirmed that the alleged heist of the lobsters, which weren’t alive, was certain for Costco shops in Illinois and Minnesota.

In an announcement to Boston.com, Rexing stated he believes the motive force impersonated a legit service and stole the seafood.

“This theft wasn’t random,” Rexing stated. “It adopted a sample we’re seeing increasingly, the place criminals impersonate legit carriers utilizing spoofed emails and burner telephones to hijack high-value freight whereas it’s in transit.”

Rexing stated that for a mid-sized brokerage, like his, a $400,000 loss is critical.

“It forces robust choices and finally drives up prices throughout the provision chain — prices customers finally find yourself paying,” he stated within the assertion.

Rexing stated his firm is working intently with the FBI and the Transportation Intermediaries Affiliation, which coordinates info sharing and advocates for stronger safeguards to fight cargo theft nationwide.

“Brokers are on the entrance traces of this downside, however we’d like federal companies to have trendy enforcement instruments to maintain tempo with organized legal networks,” Rexing stated. “Till that occurs, these thefts will proceed to disrupt companies and affect on a regular basis costs.”

Cargo theft on the rise

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched Operation Boiling Level in 2022 amid a surge in organized retail and cargo theft nationwide. The company estimates that cargo theft now prices the U.S. financial system $15–35 billion yearly.

Officers say theft rings goal items in transit — at ports, truck stops, rail yards, and alongside provide routes — usually utilizing fraudulent pickups or solid paperwork. Excessive-value objects like prescription drugs, electronics, clothes, meals, and alcohol are among the many most ceaselessly stolen.

The U.S. Division of Transportation has additionally taken discover. In September, it sought enter from state and native companies on methods to strengthen supply-chain safety, saying cargo theft “prices the financial system billions yearly” and ranges from opportunistic trailer thefts to “extremely coordinated operations carried out by organized legal networks.”

Such crimes, the company added, may even assist fund narcotics trafficking, counterfeiting, and human smuggling.