CARGO CRIME HOTSPOT


19


The Milton Keynes cargo theft Hotspot area, the M1 motorway and where the main action is with regard to cargo theft incidents.


WHY IS MILTON KEYNES A ‘GOLD MINE’ FOR CARGO CRIMINALS?


As a logistics and business hub, Milton Keynes in the UK has literally become a victim of its own success as a prominent target for cargo theft gangs. Most of the action takes place at unsecured parking places in business parks and motorway services along the M1 motorway. It can be hard to mitigate these cargo theft risks when operating in the area. However, using security data to support your operations can help you understand where these incidents are taking place and the security and inherent vulnerability of available parking areas in the region…


I was recently on a road trip vacation in Denmark with a mate. Due to the coronavirus, we decided to stay within the Danish borders.


On the way, passing several lorries, I started to notice what I routinely put in my threat assessments: soft sided trailers fixed with duct tape. Some had small repairs, and a few had slash marks running from one end of the trailer to another. All evidence of the problem of cargo theft, the small holes being where perpetrators look and assess the value of the cargo, and the large slashes where they steal as much as they can carry. It is always interesting to see these things up close.


Most cargo theft in Europe is carried out by relatively low-level organised crime groups, meaning that while the groups themselves can be somewhat large, they are not linked to major crime syndicates or criminal networks, or have complex inner workings or hierarchical structures. So rather street gangs and small- time criminals.


One of my main tasks as an analyst is to gauge the threat of cargo theft - what is the capability, intent, and opportunity available to criminal groups? Capability and intent are easy.


While incidents vary, overall, there’s not a lot of tradecraft when it comes to getting into lorry trailers. You just need a utility knife or other breaching tools, a car to stuff stolen goods into and a pair of shoes that don’t squeak. And you obviously do it to make money.


Often, ‘opportunity’ is the most interesting - where are the best hunting grounds, and where is a theft easiest to pull off? These are often shown to me and my colleagues and include the notorious “hardest hit” parking areas and hotspots across Europe.


One interesting case is the Milton Keynes and Northampton area in the UK. While the UK, and England especially, is very affected by cargo theft - according to the British Home Office, cargo theft in the UK comes at a cost of £250 million (€290m) a year – Milton Keynes and Northampton are among the parts of the UK where the problem is greatest, according to available data. The threat is, therefore, significantly higher here than in the rest of the country.


CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 >


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24