Thieves cloned shipping documents to reroute a trailer carrying 75 drums of food-grade glycerin, valued at about $60,000, to an unauthorized location in Thornton, Illinois, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office as reported by CDLLife and FreightWaves. CDLLife reported the case dates to Sept. 17 and involved a site in the 16800 block of Canal Street; FreightWaves said the shipment originated in Hammond, Indiana. No arrests had been announced, and the investigation remains open.
According to FreightWaves, the offenders altered carrier and bill-of-lading information so the diversion appeared legitimate, and the Thornton site was suspected of operating as an unauthorized cross-dock. The sheriff’s Organized Retail Crime and Cargo Theft Task Force recovered the 41,336 pounds of product and returned it to its owner. Commander Michael Ware said the recovery shows “how sophisticated strategic cargo theft has become.”
The case is an example of strategic theft, in which falsified paperwork rather than a physical break-in redirects a load, and it follows a multi-agency cargo theft operation led by the same task force in late September.
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