From “Thieves hijack truck in UK, steal $6.6M of Apple products” posted on AppleInsider early Tuesday:
Thieves in the United Kingdom have stolen a trailer full of Apple products containing an estimated $6.6 million in goods that were in transit on one of the country’s major highways.
The robbery took place on November 10, on the southbound slip road at Junction 18 of the M1 motorway, Northamptonshire Police report. The driver and a security guard were attacked and tied up before thieves made off with the truck itself.
The truck was taken to the nearby village of Crick, where an operation took place to shift the acquired products to a second waiting truck and trailer. After abandoning the driver and security guard, the second truck was driven to Lutterworth, Leicestershire, before the thieves offloaded the goods again to a third truck.
While Police haven’t advised of what products were stolen in the organized theft, the 48 pallets of products are valued at 5 million GBP.
My take: I think I’ve seen this movie. Doesn’t end well.
Best geeky tweets: ARMed robbery , M1s nabbed on the M1 and (in a British accent) No ARM done
Apple can brick or disable if they have the IMEI numbers of the devices assuming iPhones and iPads. But prospective buyers, or “resellers” won’t know this when they turn over money to shady sources of supplies, or they get shipped out of country to other black markets. The truck swapping three different times suggested an organized crime group, surveillance, maybe even inside knowledge of logistics, and with resources.
If products are accessories like AirPods, Watch much harder to track but not impossible. Watch bands, other passive devices would be impossible to track.
My guess is they try to get passed off to unsuspecting end users or to unscrupulous indie resellers.