<\/a><\/p>\nThieves are swiping semis and tractor-trailers filled with goods, triggering a spike in cargo theft on the nation’s highways.<\/p>\n
Over five days last month, an 18-wheeler carrying 710 cartons of consumer electronics was stolen from a Pennsylvania rest stop, a 53-foot-long rig packed with 43,000 pounds of paper was ripped off in Ottawa, Ill., and a 40-foot-long truck filled with reclining armchairs went missing in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
Truckloads containing $487 million of goods were stolen in the U.S. in 2009, a 67 percent increase over the $290 million worth of products swiped a year earlier. Thieves stole 859 truckloads in 2009, up from 767 loads in 2008 and 672 in 2007, according to FreightWatch International, an Austin, Texas-based supply-chain security firm that maintains a database of thefts that several government agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, look to for trends.<\/p>\n
“In the past two months, we've just seen such an increase that it’s to the point where criminals are just wreaking havoc,” said Sandor Lengyel, a detective sergeant and squad leader in New Jersey State Police’s cargo-theft unit. “They’ll pretty much steal anything.” Cargo thieves ripped off $28 million in goods in New Jersey in 2009, an 87 percent spike from the $15 million stolen in 2008, he said.<\/p>\n
via Truck Heists ‘Wreaking Havoc’ on U.S. Highways, Endangering Consumers – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News – FOXNews.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n