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Thieves Arrested After Stealing iPhones From Moving Truck

Five men have been arrested in the Netherlands for the theft of $590,000 worth of iPhones from a moving truck. The theft reads like a scene from Mission: Impossible.

August 3, 2017
Apple iPhone 7 Plus

As Apple's stock price and cash reserves clearly reflect, the iPhone is both a highly desirable and expensive device. So while consumers continue to buy millions of them, thieves are also desperate to get their hands on the phones, to the point where they'll steal them from a moving truck.

According to the BBC, five Romanian men aged between 33 and 43 have recently been arrested in the Netherlands for carrying out just such a heist. They managed to steal $590,000 worth of iPhones while the truck carrying them was travelling down the A73 motorway near Horst.

The theft was carried out by following the truck very closely in a van. Once close enough, one of the thieves exits the van and stands on the bonnet before breaking into the back of the truck. This is typically done with a portable grinder. An anti-slip map can also be attached to the van's bonnet to help with grip.

Once inside the truck, the iPhones are grabbed and passed to another of the thieves standing on the roof of the van who then deposits them in the back. This is repeated until the van is full, the truck is empty, or they lose contact for some reason, e.g. the truck leaves the main highway.

While this is happening, unless the truck driver sees the van approach it's unlikely they will know the theft is occurring due to engine noise. And this isn't the first time such a theft has occurred. The first was reported in Germany back in 2008. The appeal for the thieves is clear: there's little security around a truck in motion and they can easily get away by simply driving off.

It would be quite expensive to fully protect a truck's trailer from such attacks, but surely the iPhones could be better protected within the truck? That would also add to the transportation costs, but it's better than losing $590,000 worth of phones, right?

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About Matthew Humphries

Senior Editor

I started working at PCMag in November 2016, covering all areas of technology and video game news. Before that I spent nearly 15 years working at Geek.com as a writer and editor. I also spent the first six years after leaving university as a professional game designer working with Disney, Games Workshop, 20th Century Fox, and Vivendi.

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