TAPA IIS INTELLIGENCE • •


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On 24 August, thieves brazenly stole cosmetics products from the back of a truck at a Destination Facility in Durban


In the same city on 27 August, three offenders travelling in a car forced a truck carrying frozen chips off the road in Sydenham, Durban, before threatening the driver with a gun. He was then forced to drive the vehicle to a storage facility where some of the cargo was offloaded. Police later traced the truck and found the driver tied up inside


Other crimes in the region included: •


•


Elsewhere in EMEA, three incidents were recorded in both France and Germany last month. Two of the cases in France are worth highlighting; the forced stop and hijacking of a truck carrying miscellaneous parcels on 14 August by offenders driving several cars. After threatening the driver and taking the load, they set fire to the vehicle. On 10 August, TAPA was also notified of a case in Paris in which the driver of a truck carrying electronics was reportedly overcome by a sleeping gas used by thieves. In Germany, two of the three incidents saw thieves targeting shipments of tyres.


Three thefts were also reported in South Africa:


•


On 21 August, a black car using a blue light and siren forced a truck carrying pharmaceutical products to stop on the N14 highway close to Lanseria International Airport to the north west of Johannesburg. The driver was threatened with a firearm, blindfolded and put into the car. After driving around for some time, the thieves left the driver with his vehicle after stealing capsules and syringes with a reported value of €12,000 from the truck


Thieves using a hoist to steal copper from an Authorised 3rd Party Facility in Élouges in Belgium’s Hainaut province on 27 August


Another theft of tobacco, this time in Spain on 15 August at an unsecured parking location on the A5 highway towards Madrid. The thieves cut a hole in the curtain side of the truck before forcing open the rear doors to steal the cargo


If you have information concerning a cargo theft, please report it to iis@tapaemea.org


EUROPOL’S NEW 2018 INTERNET ORGANISED CRIME THREAT ASSESSMENT (IOCTA) DISCUSSES CHANGES ON THE DARKNET


Europol’s latest cybercrime report provides insights into emerging threats and key developments. The 2018 Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) presents a revealing insight into the Darknet, often used by cargo thieves to ‘sell on’ products stolen in attacks on warehouses and trucks.


According to IOCTA, the Darknet will continue to facilitate online criminal markets, where criminals sell illicit products in order to engage in other criminal activity or avoid surface net traceability. In 2017, however, these activities were severely interrupted when law enforcement agencies shut down three of the largest Darknet markets: AlphaBay, Hansa and RAMP. These takedowns prompted the migration of users towards existing or newly- established markets, or to other platforms entirely, such as encrypted communications apps, the report states.


Although cybercrime continues to be a major threat to the EU, last year again saw some


remarkable law enforcement successes. Europol says cooperation between law enforcement agencies, private industry, the financial sector and academia is a key element of this success.


The Darknet market ecosystem is extremely unstable. Despite closing down the three major marketplaces in 2017, at least nine more closed either spontaneously or as a result of their administrators absconding with the market’s stored funds. The almost inevitable closure of large, global Darknet marketplaces has led to an


increase in the number of smaller vendor shops and secondary markets catering to specific language groups or nationalities.


While Darknet marketplaces offer a range of counterfeit and pirated goods for sale, the majority of illicit trade still occurs on the surface web. The nature of the counterfeit commodity is reflected in which market it is sold. Counterfeit goods such as clothing, pharmaceuticals, electronics, or jewellery, which can be sold either wittingly or unwittingly as counterfeits of genuine articles, will typically be found on the surface web where they can reach the maximum customer base. Counterfeits such as ID documents or money, are unlikely to be found on the surface web and instead will be sold amidst the other clearly illicit commodities on the dark web.


As with other crime types, efforts to curtail the trade of counterfeit or pirated goods on the surface web Internet will likely result in a shift towards the dark web.


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