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Organized crime groups are allegedly purchasing legitimate haulage businesses to masquerade as legitimate drivers and methodically steal high-value cargo, based on new findings.

Evidence has emerged indicating that several haulage enterprises were acquired using decedent persons' identifying details, enabling perpetrators to create bogus business entities.

Sophisticated Deception Operation

A particular transport company was subsequently contracted as a subcontractor by an unaware UK logistics company. Producers then loaded one of the contractor's lorries with products that later vanished entirely.

The business owner, who runs a Midlands-based haulage enterprise that was targeted by the fraudulent contractors, described the circumstances as "incredible" that "organized elements can target companies so blatantly".

"Consumers should be concerned because it affects your finances," commented an industry expert, formerly a safety manager for a large retail chain.

Rising Freight Theft Figures

This audacious tactic represents just one of numerous ways perpetrators are focusing on transport companies that transport retail stock and other supplies throughout the country, with cargo criminal activity in the UK rising to £111m last year from £68 million in 2023.

Recorded footage shows perpetrators raiding lorries during distribution, breaking into transport while stationary in traffic, removing locks and breaching depots, and taking entire trailers packed with merchandise.

Driver Experiences

Drivers, who often need to stop and sleep overnight in their cabs, have reported waking to discover the curtained panels of their trucks cut by thieves attempting to access the contents within, with consignments of branded apparel, alcohol and electronics among the particularly frequent targets.

Organized Response

Police authorities have indicated that freight criminal activity is becoming "increasingly advanced, more coordinated" and stressed that law enforcement units need to work with the industry to tackle the issue.

Fraud affecting hauliers - encompassing criminals using bogus transport businesses - is increasing in the UK, based on official sources.

"Our sector is under attack," says an industry representative, managing officer of a major road haulage organization.

Complex Examination

The deception operation seems to mirror a methodology previously observed in mainland Europe, where "authentic haulage businesses on the brink of bankruptcy" are acquired by coordinated crime syndicates who accept several cargoes "before vanish".

After the targeting of Alison's firm, investigating personnel informed her that police were also examining similar incidents in different regions of the UK.

Detailed Case

Alison's transport firm, which moves substantial amounts of pounds throughout the country each year, had contracted out to a smaller haulage company for a assignment earlier this year.

"The insurance was in place, their business licence was in place," she says. "The situation appeared great." The vehicle arrived at the manufacturing company, loading equipment loaded it with home improvement items and the truck drove off, she reports.

But unknown to Alison and the producers, the vehicle had been using fake number plates. It vanished with the cargo worth at £75,000.

"The first awareness we had regarding it was the destination business contacted us and asked, 'where's our load disappeared to?'" Alison recalls. She attempted to call the contractor, but the phone had been deactivated.

Personal Theft Element

Therefore who had taken the merchandise? Researchers traced a convoluted path to try to establish the solution, involving a deceased man's personal information, a unknown Eastern European female and a £150k high-end vehicle.

The company Alison contracted was named Zus Transport. A thirty days before the incident, it had been sold by its former owners - with no indication they were involved in any improper activity.

Investigation discovered that the acquisition was funded by a electronic payment from a entity owned by a UK-based Eastern European lorry driver named Ionut Calin, who went by his middle name Robert.

Investigators identified a network of multiple haulage companies, comprising Zus Transport, apparently acquired by Mr Calin this year.

However the individual had passed away in November 2024, verified with official records. This was months before his financial information had been utilized to purchase multiple of the companies and his identity used to establish three of them at official company records.

Additional Investigation

There is zero basis to suspect he was involved in crime, and many people on online platforms paid tribute to him as a decent man who helped others in the industry.

The former proprietors of multiple of the transport companies stated they had interacted not with Mr Calin, but with a man known as "Benny".

Researchers located him by examining the registered officer of Zus Transport listed in government documents, a Romanian female. Information about her is scarce, but a contact number for her was found. When searched in messaging platforms, it displayed a profile picture of a young woman, with a alternative name, in a high-end automobile.

The profile picture assisted in recognizing her as a family member of Mr Calin, and the wife of a individual named Benjamin Mustata. The individual and his spouse had posed for a photo when taking delivery of a luxury automobile from a retailer in April, a week after the theft targeting Alison's enterprise.

Confrontation

When shown images from social media of the individual to a former proprietor of one of the transport companies, he identified him as "the pseudonym" - the man he had encountered face-to-face to negotiate the transfer of the business.

A phone number