Incident:  Rail Pilferage, Arrest, and Recovery

Yesterday, Overhaul enabled the arrest of two suspects and the recovery of cargo from a rail pilferage performed in Arizona.

Early morning on Thursday, June 27, the Overhaul GSOC alerted that a shipment of athletic footwear was being pilfered from its container on rail west of Flagstaff, AZ.

Coordinating with the New Mexico State Police, BNSF rail police and the HSI, the Overhaul LE Connect team provided officers with the real time location and sensor data via the Risk Monitoring platform.

This data allowed law enforcement to catch up to and intercept the suspects in Barstow, CA where they were able to locate the suspect vehicle. Law enforcement confirmed that locations were indicating the same vehicle, at which point the driver and passenger were apprehended, and the vehicle was inspected and found to be filled with stolen product pilfered from the rail container, and the suspects were arrested. The suspects will be facing federal charges.

It should be noted that while pilferage from rail is common, recoveries of cargo stolen from rail are rare. Cargo on rail is notoriously difficult to secure, requiring granular visibility to be able to identify stolen cargo before it arrives at destination. Even with this granular visibility, the lack of direct control of the cargo while on rail coupled with the remote locations where these thefts often happen make recoveries near impossible.

Overhaul recommends that shippers of targeted and high demand or high value products over rail employ as many visibility solutions as able. The ability to pinpoint the location and time of theft enables coordination and cooperation of the appropriate Law Enforcement entities and can be the crucial pieces of data that allow Law Enforcement to be successful.

Over rail, control of the cargo is far less than over the road, and so contextual intelligence, remote compliance monitoring, real time visibility, and an immediate escalation process with a path to effective law enforcement engagement are critical to recognizing and recovering stolen cargo.