A shipment of $400,000 worth of lobsters was hijacked before delivery after being picked up from Taunton and headed to Costco stores in Illinois and Minnesota.
The CEO of the Indiana-based company Rexing Companies, which managed the shipment, told Fox Chicago that the disappearance of the cargo appeared to be at the hands of a “theft ring of some sort.”
The company employs more than 100 people and the CEO said that the $400,000 loss is “heartbreaking.”
“This is a huge issue across the country,” Dylan Rexing told the outlet. “It directly impacts businesses and contributes to higher prices for consumers.”
No arrests have been announced in connection with the incident. Rexing said that the FBI is involved.
“They are aware of the issue and they are actively working on it,” Rexing said.
Asked by the news station about the potential for an “inside job,” Rexing responded:
“I would tell you it’s pretty safe to say this is a theft ring of some sort, I’m not sure who exactly is involved. But it’s a big problem. I’m not so sure that it’s necessarily an inside job, at least inside our office or inside the shipping location where it’s shipped from.”
Rexing added that 10 days earlier there was a load of crabs stolen from the same facility, which was not named.
The company will be impacted by the loss through hiring delays, reduced employee bonuses and passing higher costs down the supply chain, according to Rexing.
Rexing told NBC Boston that he believes that the driver impersonated a legitimate carrier and stole the seafood.
“This theft wasn’t random,” Rexing said. “It followed a pattern we’re seeing more and more, where criminals impersonate legitimate carriers using spoofed emails and burner phones to hijack high-value freight while it’s in transit.”
Costco and Rexing Companies did not immediately return a request for comment on Sunday.
Earlier this year, the federal Homeland Security Investigations announced “Operation Boiling Point” aimed at taking down organized theft groups that target cargo and retail supply chains.
Officials said that these types of thefts cost the economy between $15 and $35 billion every year.
