Global Intelligence Note SUPPLY CHAIN

INTELLIGENCE CENTER
27 July 2018
Formerly known as
FreightWatch International

The SensiGuard­™ Supply Chain Intelligence Center (SCIC)

presents a summary of major incidents and news articles EMEA
relating to cargo theft and intelligence for the week ending
27 July 2018.
Belgium
EMEA
Belgium.................................................................................... 1 24 July 2018: A young man illegally living in
Germany.................................................................................. 1 Belgium has been sentenced to 30 months in

United Kingdom....................................................................... 2 prison for the theft of vehicles and the theft from
trucks parked on highway parking areas in Liège
Italy.......................................................................................... 2
in October 2017. The defendant was arrested on
Italy/China................................................................................ 2
the Welkenraedt motorway; with two accomplices, he cut truck
The Netherlands....................................................................... 2
tarpaulins and stole goods which could be resold on the black
Spain........................................................................................ 3
market. His accomplices escaped. The defendant first claimed
France...................................................................................... 3
that he was trying to reach England and that he had paid €500
Iran........................................................................................... 3
to a people smuggler to drive him to the motorway area. He
South Africa............................................................................. 3
finally confessed to the thefts.
APAC
Read more: L’Avenir (Belgium)
Indonesia.................................................................................. 3
India......................................................................................... 3
China........................................................................................ 4
China/Kazakhstan.................................................................... 4
North & South America
Germany
Brazil........................................................................................ 5 20 July 2018: A Brandenburg company
Mexico..................................................................................... 5 is said to have marketed anticancer drugs
U.S. & Canada......................................................................... 6 throughout Germany for years that were
apparently stolen from Greece. The Greek
police warn of danger to health risks. Questionable cancer
drugs apparently arrived in Germany in the drug trade: the
Brandenburg company is suspected of having sold stolen drugs
worth several million euros for years.
Read more: Tages Schau (Germany)

sensitech.com
United Kingdom
24 July 2018: A man is being sought in connection
with the theft of more than £1 million worth of mobile
phones from a distribution depot in Stanwell. Surrey
Police has released CCTV images of a man they wish
to speak to as part of their investigation into the 6 December
2017 theft. Police say the suspect turned up at the depot in
a truck with false number plates and forged paperwork. He
pretended to be a representative of a distribution company,
and made off with a consignment of mobile phones and tablets
worth around £1.3 million.
Read more: Surrey Live (U.K.)
20 July 2018: Fraudsters are imitating U.K.
University email addresses to defraud U.K.
and European supply companies. Criminals
are registering domains that are at first glance
similar to genuine university domains. These domains are then
used to contact suppliers and order high value goods such as
IT equipment and pharmaceutical chemicals in the University’s
name. Fraudsters imitating one University’s domain lead to a
cumulative victim loss of £350,000 (€393,872).
Source: NaVCIS
17 July 2018: Criminals targeted at least five trucks
and semi-trailers parked at Beaconsfield Motorway
Services at Junction 2 on the M40 in Hertfordshire
with their drivers in the truck’s cab. Various products
were stolen, including Alcohol products.
Source: NaVCIS
16 July 2018: As a retail delivery driver was
making a lunchtime delivery at a location on
Hucknall Rd, Nottingham, Criminals approached
the truck and stole Tobacco products from the open trailer.
They fled the scene in a vehicle. Organised Tobacco thefts are
occurring all over the United Kingdom, with NaVCIS reporting
that there have been 125 incidents since May 2018.
Source: NaVCIS
sensitech.com
Italy
24 July 2018: The Carabinieri of Isernia have
arrested two members of a four-person gang
responsible for the theft of some vehicles (two
vans and a truck) in June of this year. They also
were found to have stolen numerous pieces of high-value
equipment from the parking lot of a wind turbine installation
company in the Vinchiaturo area. It is believed that the goods
stolen at that time had a value of over €100,000.
Read more: IS News (Italy)
Italy/China
18 July 2018: A new rail freight service will
be developed connecting Italy and China via
the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars line. This was agreed
by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FSI), Mercitalia
Intermodal (FS Italian Group) and Azerbaijan Railways during a
state visit of the Italian president in Baku. The route connects
a yet to be defined Italian destination with the Turkish port of
Mersin. In Turkey, the cargo travels further by train. With the
Baku–Tbilisi–Kars line, it passes through Georgia and Azerbaijan
to enter Iran, from where it is forwarded to China.
Read more: RailFreight.com
The Netherlands
20 July 2018: Thieves have stolen 114 tonnes of
cobalt from a secure warehouse in Rotterdam’s
port area. The haul has a value of some €7m; it
is unclear as yet how the thieves were able to do
this. ‘Additional monitoring and security have been implemented
since the discovery of the theft, and the company is working
closely with police and insurers,’ the Minor Metals Trade
Association said in a statement issued to members earlier this
week. This same company was hit before when back in late
2008, Belgian police arrested a gang who stole 20 tonnes of
cobalt metal from one of their warehouses in Antwerp. One of
those charged (an employee of a transportation company that
worked with them) confessed that he’d locked himself in the
warehouse and disabled the alarm, and over six hours removed
the metal with a bulldozer.
Read more: Bloomberg
SCIC Global Intelligence Note 27 July 2018 2
Spain
July 2018: State security forces have dismantled a
powerful criminal organization dedicated to the theft
of trucks and goods on the A2 highway in sections
of the provinces of Madrid, Guadalajara, Soria and
Zaragoza. There are 32 people arrested, and up
to 118 robberies have been confirmed. This would have added
up to losses of about €2,000,000 to the victims. In view of the
alarming increase in robberies on the A2 motorway, an operation
called “Tolvaj” was launched last September, which ended with
the arrest of 32 people. It has resulted in the recovery of a truck
that was used to commit thefts, along with seizing tools, and
recovering several trucks parked in service areas loaded with
goods such as televisions, perfumes, appliances and clothing,
with a value close to €300,000.
Read more: Cadena SER (Spain)
France
24 July 2018: A gang of criminals stopped
a truck on the street in Heyrieux Business
Park in Heyrieux (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes).
The driver had left a warehouse, and was likely followed by the
gang. Once stopped, they unloaded his cargo of cigarettes into
several vehicles. Unknown to them, one of the cigarette cartons
contained a GPS device which allowed police to trace it to
the town of Villefontaine, where they found some of the cargo
loaded in three cars. Three young people have been arrested on
suspicion of involvement. Investigations are ongoing.
Read more: Le Dauphine (France)
Iran
24 July 2018: When sanctions on Iran were
removed in 2016, European railway companies
gradually started setting up rail freight corridors
to or via Iran. This year, some of those
sanctions were re-imposed, with the first set of restrictions to
be implemented on 6 August. Certainly not every shipment
will be targeted, but European firms are urged to analyse their
transaction before putting it on a train to Iran.
Read more: RailFreight.com
sensitech.com
South Africa
24 July 2018: A delivery van transporting R250
000 worth of clothing was hijacked outside a
retail store in Maronga Street in Kwazakhele
(Port Elizabeth). This comes after another truck
transporting boxes of food products valued
at R200 000 was hijacked in New Brighton last week. This
brings the total number of hijacked delivery trucks—carrying
an assortment of stock—over the past five weeks to sixteen in
Nelson Mandela Bay alone.
Read more: Herald Live (South Africa)
APAC
Indonesia
27 July 2018: Indonesia’s logistics industry
will enjoy double-digit growth this year, thanks
to booming e-commerce and a string of new
bonded logistics centres. According to the
Indonesian Logistics Association (ALI), the
industry will grow 10-12% this year, while e-commerce will
expand by up to 30%. “E-commerce in Indonesia has driven
express business growth exponentially for the last five years,
with a lot of new express logistics companies launching,” said
ALI chairman Zaldy Masita.
Read more: The Loadstar (U.K.)
India
27 July 2018: A truck loaded with liquor bottles
worth Rs 21 lakhs was stolen in Jammu and
Kashmir. A complaint was received by the Chennai
police station regarding the theft of the truck
carrying Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) bottles. A case was
registered and raids were conducted at different suspected
locations. The stolen vehicle was finally recovered from Ramkote
village of Kathua district. However, the officer said that the thief
managed to take advantage of the darkness and escaped from
the spot.
Read more: Business Standard (India)
SCIC Global Intelligence Note 27 July 2018 3
China
26 July 2018: Chinese shipping firm Cosco
(China Ocean Shipping) has been knocked out
by Windows ransomware. The infection has
disabled some electronic communications at
several of its North American locations. In a statement, it said a
“local network breakdown” had hit its American region. It said
it had isolated the offices as it investigated. Cosco is China’s
largest carrier of containerised goods and the fourth largest of
these maritime operators in the world.
Read more: BBC News
23 July 2018: Chinese premier Li Keqiang
has called for an immediate investigation into
the sale of 250,000 faulty rabies vaccines that
he said had crossed a moral line, while urging
severe punishment for the companies and people implicated.
Outrage swept Chinese social media as regulators and officials
tried to contain fallout over revelations that one of the country’s
largest vaccine makers had been giving children defective
vaccines. Regulators ordered a stop to the production of a
rabies vaccine, after investigators found fabricated production
and inspection records during an inspection that was prompted
by a tip off. There have been no reports of injuries or side effects
from the vaccines and Chinese officials and state media have
released statements promising accountability.
Read more: The Guardian (U.K.)
20 July 2018: Seven tonnes of scales from
endangered pangolin were seized from a cargo
shipment in Hong Kong bound for mainland China.
The shipping container was only supposed to
contain plastic raw materials. The 7,100kg haul—the second-
biggest seizure of its kind in a decade—had an estimated
market value of HK$3.55 million (USD $450,000), according
to the Customs and Excise Department. It was seized when
officers opened the 40-foot container for inspection at the Tsing
Yi customs cargo examination compound. Its manifest claimed it
contained more than 880 bags of plastic raw materials. “A total
of 284 bags carrying suspected pangolin scales were found in
the container,” a law enforcement source said. No arrests have
been made, and the investigation is ongoing.
Read more: South China Morning Post
China/Kazakhstan
23 July 2018: The handling of freight trains
at the Chinese-Kazakh border crossing of
Khorgos-Altynkol has been reduced in time due
to a technical advancement. The replacement
of copper by fiber optic cable between Altynkol and Khorgos
allows shipping documents to be processed up to thirty times
faster, said Kazakh railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy
(KTZ).
Read more: RailFreight.com

22 July 2018: Typhoon Ampil hit Chinese

financial hub Shanghai around midday,
bringing heavy rainfall and disrupting
transport and shipping. More than 600
flights from the city’s two airports were
cancelled and high-speed rail services was also impacted,
said state broadcaster CCTV. The typhoon first hit the island
of Chongming, 45 kilometres east of the city, with winds of
up to 28 metres per second near its eye, said the National
Meteorological Centre. The city had already relocated 190,000
people from coastal areas by early Sunday morning. Heavy
rain and thunderstorms in recent weeks have caused havoc
across China, with floods along major rivers destroying bridges,
blocking roads and railways and forcing thousands of residents
to evacuate.
Read more: Channel NewsAsia

sensitech.com SCIC Global Intelligence Note 27 July 2018 4

North & South
America
Brazil
24 July 2018: In 2017, the state of Paraná
was responsible for 1% of the cargo theft in
Brazil. There were 25,970 cases registered in
the country, of which 259 occurred in Paraná. According to
the Federation of Industries of Paraná State, while thefts only
comprised to only 1% of the total, the losses of R $ 60 million
were almost 5% of the total R $ 1.3 billion loss registered in the
country. According to the Federation, most cargo transported
in the state is agricultural products. However, Pharmaceuticals
and cosmetics from the west of the state are more targeted and
have higher added value. As a result, they have invested more in
monitoring systems and other safety tools.
Read more: Folha de Londrina (Brazil)
21 July 2018: The driver of a truck transporting
agricultural products was approached by four
gunmen (in two cars) who surrounded the truck
while it was still moving on Anhanguera highway
near Cravinhos city. After stopping the truck, the
driver was forced to get off, but managed to trigger the truck
tracking system. The victim was hooded and taken to a car,
where he remained in the possession of the assailants for almost
40 minutes, until it was left in a cane field in a nearby town.
However, the criminals could not complete the robbery. The
value of the load was 558,000 reais (about USD $372,000).
Read more: Acidade On Ribeirão Preto (Brazil)
21 July 2018: A police operation resulted in
the arrests of members of a gang specialized in
Fictitious Pick-Up robbery. In four different thefts,
the gang stole ten trucks. They hired the victims
to carry loads, and kept the drivers hostage
until the vehicles were taken to Paraguay. At each crime, new
gang members were called in to participate in the robbery,
transporting and keeping victims hostage. According to police,
the gang recruited people who had drug debts with them or
who needed money.
Read more: Campo Grande News (Brazil)
sensitech.com
19 July 2018: Since the beginning of 2018, eight
cargo thefts against the Brazilian Postal and
Telegraph Company were registered on federal
highways in Rio Grande do Norte State. Including
urban areas, there were sixteen cargo thefts against
the Post Office. In the last case, a truck on the BR-101 highway
near the city of Arez was approached by about eight criminals,
who used three vehicles to intercept the truck. They forced
the driver down a dirt road, where he was forced to stop. The
container he was carrying was partially emptied.
Read more: Tribuna do Norte (Brazil)
July 2018: São Gonçalo city, a Metropolitan
Region of Rio de Janeiro, is one of the cities
with the highest number of cargo thefts in the
state. In 2018, it averaged about five cases a day. In June, the
municipality had the most cases in the state (146).
Mexico
25 July 2018: Municipal Police officers of
Tlacotepec de Benito Juárez received a report
of a trailer being stolen. Upon arriving at the
specified location, officers were met with gun
shots as the suspected thief immediately opened
fire from the driver’s seat of the trailer. The gun fight that ensued
between the criminal and local authorities resulted in the man’s
death.
25 July 2018: Federal Police in Puebla
recovered a trailer loaded with over 1,000 car
batteries of different brands. The trailer was
stolen in the neighboring state of Tlaxcala and
recovered hours later at kilometer 113 of highway Mexico-
Puebla. Fortunately the cargo, valued at over $1.2 million MXN,
was still intact and taken into police custody.
24 July 2018: Head southeast out of Mexico
City for about four hours or so and you will
come upon the town of Acultzingo. It is an
impoverished, dusty little place nestled up
against the rugged peaks of the Sierra Madre. Acultzingo is
not only the train robbery capital of Mexico but, arguably, of
the world. Over the past year alone, there were 521 crimes
committed against cargo trains in the town.
Read more: Bloomberg
SCIC Global Intelligence Note 27 July 2018 5
 21 July 2018: Seven individuals were arrested
in association with various truck thefts in
Campeche, Tabasco, and Quintana Roo. At the
time of their arrest, the seven males were in the
middle of unloading merchandise from a stolen truck in the state
of Tabasco. As part of the ongoing investigation, authorities
confiscated three stolen trailers, two compact vehicles, several
fire arms, GPS signal blockers, cash, and a drone. Among
the individuals arrested were the three truck drivers who were
presumably involved in the thefts.
19 July 2018: Two men were arrested in El
Marqués, Querétaro as they were unloading a
cargo of motorcycles into a nearby warehouse.
Municipal Police officers were alerted of the suspicious activity
by neighbors. When they arrived at the location to question the
two individuals, they noted that both men seemed very nervous.
This led the officers to run the vehicle’s serial number through
the police database and they confirmed that the trailer had been
reported as stolen in San José Iturbide, Guanajuato, a town
about thirty miles north of their present location. Authorities
secured the eight motorcycles still inside the trailer at the time,
along with another few which had already been taken into the
warehouse; both men were taken into custody.
sensitech.com
U.S. & Canada
25 July 2018: Ontario Provincial Police are
hoping the public can help after a cargo
truck was stolen in Tecumseh. The vehicle’s
payload was round 800 pairs of work boots.
According to police, the 32-foot-long truck was taken from a
commercial property on Tecumseh Road East.
Read more: Windsor Star (Windsor, ON)
25 July 2018: The growth of Amazon.com and
e-commerce in general is bolstering the fortunes
of Rockford, Ill.’s Chicago Rockford International
Airport (RFD) and two air cargo carriers that use
the airport, elevating the profile of a facility that must compete
for air traffic with the Windy City’s dominant O’Hare International
Airport.
Read more: Transport Topics
25 July 2018: As the heat of the tariffs’ war
subsides, NAFTA talks are set to continue
between the three countries after two months
of subdued negotiations. Talks were stalled last
month as Mexico went into its presidential election, and now the
governments are getting back together to discuss key issues
regarding the auto industry.
Read more: FreightWaves.com
24 July 2018: A tractor-trailer loaded with
soybeans was stolen recently from a bin site
in Minnesota’s Meeker County. The semitrailer
was loaded the night before with soybeans.
Word of the theft and photos of the truck were sent out using
Facebook in the hopes to find more information.
Read more: Hutchinson Leader (Hutchinson, MN)
23 July 2018: Industrial production, retail sales,
and demand for transportation are all still at
robust levels in the United States. There are
signals in one mode, however, suggesting that
freight carriers should prepare themselves for a significant trade
slowdown this fall. All of the major container line alliances are
reducing capacity on their transpacific services from Asia to the
North America over the next few months.
Read more: FreightWaves.com
SCIC Global Intelligence Note 27 July 2018 6
 20 July 2018: Numerous risks—both old and
emerging—are threatening the shipping sector.
The emergence of ultra-large container ships,
which exceed the length of four football fields,
raise fire containment and salvage issues, while climate change
brings new route risks, especially in the Arctic and North Atlantic
regions. The maritime sector is also affected by cyber issues as
vessels and ports become increasingly automated.
Read more: Insurance Business

20 July 2018: Cargo streamed into U.S.

seaports at a rapid rate in June, as businesses
pulled in goods in an apparent rush to stock up
ahead of new tit-for-tat tariffs between the U.S.
and China. Industry watchers say retailers and manufacturers
are bumping up orders ahead of the tariffs.
Read more: Wall Street Journal

18 July 2018: An East Bay, California business

owner is offering a reward after thieves stole
$45,000 worth of merchandise from a shipping
container parked at a warehouse in Union City.
The stolen merchandise was high-end baby clothes—items from
the new fall collection of onesies and cardigans yet to hit retail
stores.
Read more: KTVU-TV (Oakland, CA)

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prevention capacity. Where possible, we have elected to maintain news articles and briefs in their native grammatical format. ©2018 Sensitech Inc.

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