Someone out there is now the proud owner of half a million dollars' worth of live lobsters.
The crustaceans were packaged in Taunton, Massachusetts, then stolen on December 12 by what appears to be a sophisticated crime operation.
From Boston 25 News:
'These crimes cost the industry billions of dollars each year,' says Chris Burroughs, President and CEO of Transportation Intermediaries Association.
'It was a fraudster or criminal who was acting as a legitimate trucking company they went and picked up the load and at that point in time it went missing,' said Burroughs.
Dylan Rexing, CEO of Rexing Companies, an Indiana-shipping company responsible for shipping the lobsters, explained how the thieves impersonated the carrier it had hired.
From NBC 10 WJAR:
'Someone impersonated them,' Rexing said. 'They showed up at the Taunton warehouse with a fake CDL.'
But it didn't stop there.
Rexing said the suspects even registered a domain name very similar to the legitimate carrier, with the only difference being a slightly different accent over the letter 'I.'
What kind of CDLs are we talking about here?
The kind they issue to illegals in blue states?
Industry insiders see a connection.
From the Tampa Free Press:
‘The unprecedented influx of unvetted foreign individuals into our trucking industry has precipitated a national security crisis,' Shannon Everett, spokesperson for American Truckers United, said. ‘This surge in fraud and freight theft directly correlates with the introduction of non-domicile commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) issued to non-citizens.'
One such hijacking operation that was shutdown in San Bernardino County was dubbed the "Singh Operation" because almost every member of the group had the Punjabi Indian surname "Singh."
The FBI is currently looking into the lobster heist, but they currently have no leads. Even if they recovered the lobsters, due to food safety laws, the lobsters would have to be destroyed.
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