“Seeing an entire container full of brand new Ski-Doos valued at, like, $24,000 — that’s a pretty good recovery for our unit,” said Haywood, who heads the force's cargo theft team.
“The way it used to be was that they would just randomly steal whatever they could get their hands on,” said Haywood. Other newer approaches that rely on “strategic theft,” where criminals effectively trick shippers into handing over their goods, are catching on too. Last April, a thief walked away with $23.8 million in gold and cash from an Air Canada warehouse after presenting phoney documents, according to an October court filing from security firm Brink’s. The incident marked the most notorious example in recent years of a so-called fictitious pickup — using false identification or documents to pose as a legitimate driver in person.
Food inflation over the past two years sparked a commensurate spike in demand for meat and other edible items.