Authorities are looking into a potential heist after a shipment of live lobsters worth $400,000 was hijacked from a cargo truck. The truck transporting the seafood from Taunton, Massachusetts, was headed for Costco locations in Illinois and Minnesota, but never reached its final destination, Dylan Rexing, CEO of Rexing Companies, told WFLD. Rexing said the heist could be linked to an organized cargo theft ring targeting high-value goods. “This is a huge issue across the country,” the logistics company head told ChicagoLIVE during an interview. “It directly impacts businesses and contributes to higher prices for consumers.” The heist follows another incident earlier this month, in which a seafood shipment was robbed at the same facility in Massachusetts. No arrests have been announced, but the FBI is investigating. The Department of Transportation is also looking into the matter. “Cargo theft is a growing concern for the U.S. transportation system, costing the economy billions annually. These crimes involve opportunistic ‘straight thefts’ of trailers, containers, and loads at truck stops or multimodal distribution hubs and highly coordinated operations conducted by organized criminal networks,” the bureau said in a request for information from law enforcement and transportation authorities. “Both categories create significant economic losses, disrupt supply chains, and in some cases fund broader illicit activities such as narcotics trafficking, counterfeiting, and human smuggling.”
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