Cargo theft in Britain is evolving into a high-yield criminal business that costs the economy about £700 million a year, as organized gangs target truckloads of food, alcohol, electronics, and consumer goods that can be quickly resold through online platforms and grey-market wholesalers, The Guardian reported. 

The appeal of the crime lies in its combination of scale, speed, and relatively low legal risk. Freight theft is typically recorded as “theft from motor vehicle,” the same category used for minor thefts from cars, even when criminals steal full trailer loads worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, according to the report. Industry groups told The Guardian that this weakens sentencing and obscures the true economic scale of the problem. 

Organized gangs are increasingly pursuing goods with strong resale value and predictable demand, including Guinness, olive oil, laptops, perfume, baby formula, and luxury food products. A truck carrying 400 kegs of Guinness stolen in Northamptonshire in December 2024 was equivalent to about 35,000 pints, while a load of Italian extra virgin olive oil can be worth around £250,000, The Guardian said. 

In another case cited by the newspaper, seven pallets of unreleased perfume worth about £1.5 million appeared for sale online within 24 hours of being stolen. 

For gangs, the model depends on converting stolen cargo into cash before it can be traced. The newspaper reported that if goods are not recovered in the first few hours, they are effectively lost, re-entering legitimate supply chains through online marketplaces or independent wholesalers. In one example, Tesco was said to have unwittingly repurchased stolen barbecues originally meant for its own stores. 

The reported instances of cargo theft have spiked in recent years. Food and drink thefts rose by as much as 79 percent in 2024, as inflation and the cost-of-living crisis made everyday goods more attractive criminal targets, according to the report.

Mike Dawber of the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service, who handles freight crime intelligence, told The Guardian that the values involved are “mind boggling.” The number of cases reaching him has more than tripled since 2017 to about 5,000 a year, underscoring how cargo theft has become a larger and more structured revenue stream for criminal groups. 

Read more at The Guardian