iStockphoto
Cargo theft can be a very lucrative business for criminals who are able to steal tractor-trailers and shipping containers containing a sizeable quantity of goods. However, they can face some issues when trying to flip them, and that certainly seems like it would be the case with a massive shipment of lobsters that disappeared while being transported from Massachusetts to Costco stores in the Midwest.
Last year, the tequila company that is co-owned by Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar ended up at the center of a heist when two trucks containing close to 25,000 bottles of the spirit were stolen from a shipping facility in Texas.
That crime ended up at the center of a 60 Minutes segment that highlighted a growing trend of similar thefts orchestrated by criminals responsible for fairly sophisticated online schemes involving seemingly legitimate shipping companies that bid to earn the right to transport goods that ultimately disappear once they’re picked up.
It’s become a widespread issue to the point where Homeland Security Investigations launched what has been dubbed “Operation Boiling Point” in an attempt to track down the groups responsible for orchestrating those crimes, and all signs point to one of them being responsible for another one involving a massive haul of crustaceans.
The FBI is investigating the disappearance of a shipment of live lobsters worth $400,000
According to Fox32, Rexing Companies, a shipping logistics operation based in Indiana, was recently tasked with overseeing the transportation of a shipment of live lobsters that were picked up in Taunton, Massachusetts and destined for Costco stores in Illinois and Minnesota.
CEO Dylan Rexing told ChicagoLIVE said the facility where the lobsters were picked up was also targeted by thieves who made off with a haul of crabs around 10 days before, which has understandably led him to believe the heists were orchestrated by a crime ring that presumably knows how to offload sizeable quantities of live crustaceans.
Rexing didn’t say how many lobsters were being transported, but he noted they had an estimated value of around $400,000.
It’s not entirely clear how the trucking company lost track of the shipment, but Rexing said the FBI is looking into the matter. However, no arrests have been made as of this writing, and it’s also unclear if there are any leads in the case.