The European policing body Europol has warned about a new way that criminals use to access delivery lorries: concealing themselves in large wooden boxes. The boxes marked as ‘Fragile’ are picked-up by parcel delivery services. Once the box is inside a lorry, en route to its final destination, the criminals escape from the box to steal valuable items also inside the lorry, such as jewellery, phones or electronics.
Accomplices following from a distance then simulate an accident to stop the vehicle, so those hidden inside can escape via holes cut out of the vehicle roof. Europol report that thefts from moving trucks have also been reported on a regular basis. However, the ‘Trojan horse’ modus operandi is a new phenomenon, the body based in The Hague adds.
Europol has issued an early warning notification on this modus operandi, as reported by Spanish law enforcement authorities, to all police forces in Europe. Visit https://www.europol.europa.eu/
