UK police officers have recently recorded 27 instances of gangs pulling off dangerous ‚rollover’ heists on trucks in order to steal sought-after electronic goods with high resale values, including Playstation 5s.
According to The Times, the 27 heists have all taken place in the last 3 months, and there are fears that thieves will try to repeat the raids again in the run up to Christmas.
Police in the UK have labelled the tactic used to steal cargo from moving trucks as the ‚rollover’.
In order to perform the heists, thieves tend to use 3 vehicles; one in front of the truck, one in the lane next to it, and one behind.
As shown in the video below (which documents an attempted rollover raid in Romania in 2012), the criminals in the car behind the truck climb out of the sunroof and move onto the bonnet. In the case of the video, a second individual holds onto the thief trying to open the back of the trailer. However, in many cases, rope is used to try to secure the person opening the trailer doors.
The report by The Times says that police have informed hauliers about the tactic and sounded warnings about other freight crimes. It has also been suggested that the thieves are using tip-offs from people within the haulage industry to know which lorries to target.
The Times also claim to have heard from a criminal that thieves are turning their attention to goods in transit, as this part of the supply chain is thought to be less secure.
In recent months, various supply chain issues have slowed deliveries of Playstation 5s – making the sought-after next generation console highly valued.
According to the Verge, in some cases the console is available for resale on Ebay at twice the price it costs to order. In addition, laptops have jumped up in price as more people work from home, while gamers are also determined to get their hands on the new 3-series cards by Nvidia. These developments ultimately boost the potential reward for the criminals who can steal the goods, making the risk more attractive.
News of the rollover raids comes just weeks after a highly sophisticated heist on a truck on the M5, during which thieves stole Apple products worth a total of £5 million.
Photo credits: Romanian Police (left), Charles Sims/Unsplash (right)