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Big Rig Bounty Hunters Take On Cargo Theft

Cargo theft on U.S. highways is a $35 billion a year racket for organized crime, and trucking companies increasingly are turning to bounty hunters to recover the big rigs and their cargo loads.   A new reality series on the National Geographic channel aptly titled Big Rig Bounty Hunters "tracks five groups of colorful characters along a perilous competition to retrieve the missing loads while facing a ticking clock and life-threatening duty."

Crime Groups Target Cargo Loads

Cargo loads are easy pickings for crime rings in Los Angeles, CA as reported by Mariecar Mendoza for the Daily News:  "'these guys are just terrorizing Los Angeles County by stealing all these big rigs with valuable freight,' said Detective Marc Zavala."

Cargo theft on U.S. highways is a $35 billion a year racket for organized crime which carries little risk as reported by NBC: 

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," [California Highway Patrol officer Xavier] Spencer said. "So, sometimes District Attorneys are not willing to take a case that's going to take a little bit of work."

The racket also is on the rise in neighboring Mexico where "assaults on cargo trucks by criminal gangs has resulted in the loss of nearly 5 billion pesos (about $380 million) between 2008 and 2011" as reported by Elyssa Pachico for Insight Crime.

Cargo Thieves Target Walnut Loads

Two separate truck loads of California walnuts worth about $300,000 have been heisted as reported by The Record Searchlight: 

Deputies checked with the trucking company hired by San Antonio-based Hill Country Bakery and learned that the man who took the walnuts wasn't actually the one hired for the job, they said.  In both cases, the driver is described as about 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighing 198 pounds. He's said to speak with a "very distinctive Russian accent," deputies said. The man somehow got the correct purchase numbers to show the companies to pull off the thefts, they said.

Cargo theft on U.S. highways is a $35 billion a year racket for organized crime which carries little risk as reported by NBC: 

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," [California Highway Patrol officer Xavier] Spencer said. "So, sometimes District Attorneys are not willing to take a case that's going to take a little bit of work."

Often cargo theft -- such as the case of the purloined walnuts -- is as simple as a fraudulent pickup which is described by the National Insurance Crime Bureau in its 2010 National Cargo Theft Report: "a driver or trucking company (often accessing cargo load information through online brokering sites) impersonates a legitimate carrier and secures a contract to transport cargo. The cargo is then stolen, often with no trace of the fraudulent driver or trucking company."

Sticky Fingers: $30 Million Maple Syrup Heist

Thieves have stolen 10 million pounds of maple syrup worth $30 million from a Quebec warehouse as reported by Kim Mackrael and Rita Trichur for The Globe and Mail:  "it's very difficult to trace and track maple syrup, so catching an illegitimate seller could be a significant challenge."

Cargo theft is a low-risk racket in the United States and Canada.  Perpetrators are rarely caught, and sentences are light.

In Ottawa "four cargo trucks loaded with expensive cargo have gone missing this year" as reported by Doug Hempstead for the Ottawa Sun:  "cargo theft gangs often conspire with depot employees to get one of their own gang members hired at the targeted warehouse."

Cargo Theft Is Big Time On U.S. Highways

Cargo theft on U.S. highways is a $35 billion a year racket for organized crime which carries little risk as reported by NBC: 

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," [California Highway Patrol officer Xavier] 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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