A $400,000 shipment of lobsters destined for Costco stores in the Midwest disappeared just days before Christmas after being picked up in Taunton, Massachusetts.
The Reshing shipment was destined for Costco stores in Minnesota and Illinois when it disappeared, said Dylan Reshing, CEO of the Indiana-based freight brokerage.
Reiching warned it was the second major seafood theft in Taunton this month, raising fears of repeat attacks and organized crime.
“This theft was not random. It follows a pattern we are seeing increasingly, where criminals use spoofed emails and burner phones to impersonate legitimate carriers and hijack high-value shipments in transit,” Lei Xing said in a statement.
Lei Xing noted that the latest theft could lead to higher prices for consumers, calling it a major blow to his business.
“For a mid-sized brokerage like us, a $400,000 loss is significant. It forces us to make difficult decisions and ultimately drives up costs throughout the supply chain — costs that are ultimately borne by consumers,” Reiching said.
Lei Xing is now pushing for stronger safeguards to combat cargo theft across the country.
“Brokers are on the front lines of solving this problem, but we need federal agencies to have modern enforcement tools to keep pace with organized criminal networks. Until then, these thefts will continue to disrupt business and impact day-to-day prices,” Reiching explained.
Although Reich said his company is working closely with the FBI, a spokesperson for the law enforcement agency told Boston 25 that “per long-standing Department of Justice policy, the FBI cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.”
As of late Saturday morning, there was no news of any arrests in the case.
Other details were not immediately available.
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