🔗 Share this article

Organized crime groups are allegedly acquiring established transport businesses to masquerade as legitimate truckers and systematically steal high-value cargo, based on new findings.

Evidence has surfaced indicating that multiple haulage operations were acquired using deceased individuals' identifying information, enabling perpetrators to establish bogus business structures.

Sophisticated Deception Operation

A particular haulage company was subsequently contracted as a third-party provider by an unsuspecting UK logistics business. Manufacturers then loaded one of the contractor's lorries with merchandise that subsequently disappeared entirely.

The business owner, who runs a central England haulage enterprise that was targeted by the bogus subcontractors, described the situation as "incredible" that "criminal elements can infiltrate businesses so blatantly".

"Consumers need to care because it affects your wallet," stated an industry expert, previously a safety manager for a large retail chain.

Increasing Freight Crime Figures

This audacious tactic represents just one of multiple methods criminals are focusing on haulage companies that transport commercial stock and other supplies throughout the nation, with freight theft in the UK increasing to £111 million last year from £68m in 2023.

Documented video shows perpetrators looting trucks during deliveries, forcing entry into transport while stopped in traffic, cutting locks and breaching warehouses, and taking complete trailers packed with merchandise.

Driver Experiences

Drivers, who often need to stop and sleep overnight in their vehicles, have reported waking to discover the covered sides of their trucks cut by criminals attempting to reach the contents within, with consignments of designer clothing, beverages and devices among the particularly frequent objectives.

Coordinated Action

Police authorities have stated that freight crime is becoming "more sophisticated, increasingly coordinated" and stressed that police forces need to work with the industry to tackle the issue.

Fraud targeting hauliers - including criminals using fraudulent haulage companies - is increasing in the UK, according to authoritative sources.

"The industry is being targeted," states Richard Smith, managing director of a prominent transport association.

Complex Investigation

The fraud scheme seems to mirror a methodology previously identified in mainland Europe, where "legitimate transport businesses on the brink of bankruptcy" are acquired by organized crime groups who collect several cargoes "before vanish".

After the targeting of Alison's firm, handling personnel informed her that police were additionally investigating similar incidents in different areas of the UK.

Specific Incident

The haulage firm, which transports millions of currency throughout the country each year, had contracted out to a less established transport firm for a assignment earlier this year.

"The insurance was active, their business permit was valid," she says. "The situation looked great." The lorry arrived at the manufacturing facility, loading equipment loaded it with home improvement items and the truck drove off, she states.

But unknown to the business owner and the manufacturers, the lorry had been using fake registration plates. It disappeared with the cargo valued at £75,000.

"Initial indication we had about it was the destination company called us and said, 'where's our shipment disappeared to?'" Alison says. She tried to contact the contractor, but the number had been deactivated.

Personal Theft Element

Therefore who had taken the merchandise? Researchers followed a convoluted path to attempt to determine the answer, involving a deceased individual's identity, a mystery Eastern European woman and a £150k high-end automobile.

The company Alison contracted was called Zus Transport. A month before the theft, it had been transferred by its former proprietors - with no indication they were involved in any wrongdoing.

Research discovered that the takeover was funded by a bank transfer from a entity owned by a UK-based Romanian transport operator called Ionut Calin, who used his middle name Robert.

Investigators identified a network of multiple haulage businesses, including Zus Transport, apparently purchased by Mr Calin this year.

But the individual had died in November 2024, confirmed with government records. This was months before his bank information had been utilized to acquire multiple of the businesses and his identity used to establish three of them at official company records.

Further Investigation

There is no reason to believe he was involved in illegal activity, and numerous people on online platforms paid tribute to him as a decent man who assisted others in the industry.

The former proprietors of several of the transport companies stated they had dealt not with the deceased individual, but with a man known as "the pseudonym".

Investigators identified him by examining the director of Zus Transport named in government documents, a Romanian woman. Data about her is scarce, but a phone details for her was located. When searched in communication platforms, it displayed a account picture of a youthful woman, with a alternative identity, in a luxury vehicle.

The account image assisted in recognizing her as a relative of Mr Calin, and the wife of a man named Benjamin Mustata. The individual and his spouse had been photographed for a photo when collecting a luxury automobile from a retailer in April, a seven days following the theft affecting Alison's enterprise.

Confrontation

When presented images from social media of the individual to a previous owner of one of the haulage businesses, he recognized him as "the pseudonym" - the man he had encountered in person to discuss the transfer of the company.

A contact details