By James Jaillet 

The Transportation Security Administration has issued an internal report warning of the potential for terrorists to use trucks as weapons to conduct attacks. TSA also released a list of countermeasures, mostly involving awareness of surroundings and reporting suspicious activity, that truck owners and operators should heed to help prevent such attacks from occurring.
Though none have occurred in the U.S., high-profile truck-ramming attacks have been carried out elsewhere, including a July 2016 attack in Nice, France, that killed 87 people and injured 430, and a similar attack in December 2016 in Berlin, Germany, in which 12 people were killed and 56 were injured. The TSA report cites these and 15 other vehicle-ramming attacks, 10 of which occurred in the past 10 months. The straight truck used in the Nice attack was rented, but the truck and trailer used by terrorists in the Berlin attack was hijacked and driven to Berlin by the assailant. The trucker was murdered by the attacker during the hijacking.
Carriers and drivers should maintain “a high level of alertness,” the report says, and should report suspicious activity to authorities and, in the case of drivers, to their carrier. Other countermeasures for carriers and drivers include parking in secure locations, ensuring vehicles are locked, refusing rides for hitchhikers and other strangers and, for carriers, ensuring route compliance of drivers.

Truck used in Berlin attack was hijacked, trucking company boss saysThe Scania tractor-trailer used in the deadly terror attack in Berlin, Germany, on Monday was hijacked, according to a report from Britain's The Independent, citing ...
“Commercial vehicle owners and operators should alert their staff to possible theft or hijacking of vehicles by would-be attackers and the importance of reporting suspicious activities to appropriate authorities,” the report says.
Dubbed “Vehicle Ramming: Threat Landscape, Indicators and Countermeasures,” the memo was issued to Homeland Security staffers, law enforcement agencies and others this week. The seven-page internal memo, marked unclassified, was obtained by Overdrive Friday.
“Terrorist organizations overseas have advocated conducting vehicle ramming attacks…against crowds, buildings and other vehicles. It is likely that terrorist groups will continue to encourage aspiring attackers to employ unsophisticated attacks such as vehicle-ramming, since these types of attacks minimize the potential for premature detection and could inflict mass fatalities, if successful,” according to the report.
Trucks in particular “present an especially attractive mechanism for ramming attacks,” the report says, “because of the ease with which they can penetrate security barriers and the large-scale damage they can inflict on people and infrastructure.”
— David Hollis contributed to this report.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE - CCJ 

By  Bob Gatty Editor Convenience Distribution  Convenience Distribution Magazine Online
 

EDMONTON — Cargo theft is a big-ticket industry in Canada, costing Canadians upwards of $5 billion per year. But now, police, insurance groups and trucking associations are hoping to crack down on the crime, which is on the rise in Alberta.
Thieves often target trucks carrying household items like laundry detergent, T-shirts and electronics, and sell them in underground, illegal markets.
“A thriving black market keeps sophisticated and networked thieves in business,” the IBC said.
Shawn Korchinski drives truck and says he’s always on alert for thieves. But even though he watches his load like a hawk, Korchinski’s been through some interesting ordeals.
“I’ve pulled into a truck stop, gone in for something to eat, come out, didn’t check my pin when I go away and drive away the pin’s been pulled and the trailer drops,” he explained.
He’s also heard horror stories from fellow drivers.
“Guys will be sleeping in the bunks… and all of a sudden they wake up the truck’s there but the trailer’s gone. Someone’s gone in, moved the truck out and boom! There goes the trailer.”
Often times, the items are sold off before they’re even reported stolen.
“We see loads that are stolen at 3 a.m., the goods are for sale at yard sales by 8 a.m. And in one instance, later that same day the other half of the load is Stateside destined for the Port of Los Angeles,” Bill Adams with the IBC said.
“These (are) criminal gangs. These are not a mom and pop operation, this is not a crime of opportunity. These are sophisticated rings.”


In hopes of getting one step ahead of the thieves, trucking companies, police and the insurance industry have teamed up. They’ve created a national database that tracks and shares cargo theft details.
“We hope that by having this kind of pan-Canadian approach to the issue and by working with counterparts in the U.S., that ultimately we will get ahead of this,” Adams said.
The cargo theft reporting program has already seen success in eastern Canada. The IBC says companies have managed to recover about one third of all the reported stolen cargo since the database was created.
On Tuesday, it was expanded to include B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. For more information on the program, visit the IBC’s website.

HILLSBOROUGH (FOX 13) -The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office thwarted a massive pharmaceutical drug heist during an undercover sting that resulted in the arrest of two truck drivers.

April 16th, detectives arrested Jose Levy-Ibanez, 46, and Arnaldo Zaldivar, 53, on several drug related and grand theft charges.

The day before, a confidential informant tipped off the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office.

"We received information that there was going to be a hijacking of a tractor trailer full of pharmaceuticals," Maj. J.R. Burton said.

According to the sheriff's office, Ibanez was hired to drive the truck from a pharmaceutical warehouse in Lakeland to one in Atlanta, GA.

Instead, deputies say, Ibanez met up with Zaldivar at a truck stop in Sumter County, the two disabled a GPS unit in the truck and switched places.

Ibanez continued north toward Atlanta with the GPS unit now in a car, and Zaldivar drove the truck south toward Tampa.

"We, of course, had surveillance on the truck the entire time," Maj. Burton said.

Undercover detectives arranged to buy a portion of the load from Zaldivar at a truck stop off U.S. 301 north of I-4.

"He then parked, met our undercover detective. They negotiated a price for the load, and at that point we arrested him," Maj. Burton said.

The sheriff's office believes the truck was destined for Miami possibly to be smuggled overseas.

"A load that size you have to have a pretty large scale buyer. That's not something that you would disperse out on the street," Maj. Burton said.

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Original News Release

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) -A man accused of trying to steal nearly $1 million of LeBron James sneakers using a trailer didn't get very far thanks to a highly trained task force.

Those who love sneakers say the new LeBron 12 shoes are a hot commodity right now. One pair can go for $250.

"They may do tricks, I don't know," said Memphis resident Tracy Figures.

"A lot of sneak heads think it's worth paying that much for a shoe," added Leroy Golden.

But, investigators say Charles Jennings didn't want to buy the shoes; he wanted to make money off of them.

"Stole a trailer full of LeBron James tennis shoes, which was valued somewhere between $700,000 and $1 million" said Assistant Chief Mark Dunbar, Shelby County Sheriff's Office.

The Memphis Cargo Task Force, which is comprised of members of FBI, U.S. Marshal's Service, Shelby County Sheriff's Office, and Memphis Police Department, says it learned Jennings, an Intermodal Cartage Group employee, used his own I.D. card to leave work with the cargo in tow. He was reportedly captured with the loot on East Holmes Road.

"With the size of that shipment, the odds are not very good you're going to be able to get away with it," Dunbar said.

With Memphis being a top distribution hub for the likes of Nike and FedEx, the task force works day and night.

"We are a target for interstate thefts," said Greg Adams, FBI. "As those items are stolen from the distributors or manufacturers, that drives up the retail cost to the consumer."

Cargo theft is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry.

"If we can arrest the organizations involved in the theft of it, then that also keeps the consumer price down for the retail customer," Adams added.

Out of 7,500 pairs, the task force tracked down about 6,800 of the sneakers that were stolen

Original Article