March 15, 2024
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Thieves stole bourbon and seafood from a pair of trucks in Northeast Philadelphia early Thursday morning, police say. There have been 36 cargo thefts in the city this year – up from 23 at this point last year.
In another case of cargo theft in Philadelphia, thieves stole bourbon and fish from a pair of trucks parked in Northeast Philadelphia early Thursday morning, but police partially recovered some of the stolen goods.
The driver of tractor-trailer parked on the 11600 block of Caroline Road woke up in his cab at 2:09 a.m. due to noise and his truck shaking, police said. He reported seeing four people loading cargo into a white Chevy Malibu and a black car.
The thieves walked away with bourbon from the truck on Caroline Road, police said. A refrigerated truck, parked on nearby Charter Road, also was burglarized, with thieves stealing seafood.
Police responded to the scene on Caroline Road and pursued the white Chevy Malibu on I-95 South until it struck a police car near the Academy Road exit and escaped, police said. No officers were injured in the crash.
Investigators found the damaged Malibu on the 2100 block of Butler Street before 3 a.m. There was no sign of the driver and the car was filled with boxes of stolen Alaskan salmon and Pacific cod.
Containers of fish and boxes of Weller bourbon was scattered near the refrigerated truck on Charter Road, CBS Philadelphia reported.
Police have not made any arrests; Northeast Detectives are leading the investigation. According to police, there have been 36 reported cargo thefts in Philadelphia this year, up from 23 at this point in 2023.
In January, thieves stole about $20,000 worth of meat from two tractor-trailers in Northeast Philadelphia. In a high-profile case late last year, several thieves made off with crabs valued at around $73,000.
