Robbers intent on stealing a large consignment of iPhones have often used cars to smash through Apple Store windows, or simply hid under hoodies and walked in during opening hours to snatch available handsets. More creative efforts have involved dressing up as Apple Store staff and sneaking away with the smartphones.
But in what may be the flashiest effort to date — one that’s already been compared to action scenes from Fast and Furious flicks — a team of bandits allegedly nabbed 500,000 euros worth of iPhones (about $590,000) from a truck as it sped along a Dutch highway about 80 miles south of Amsterdam.
Cops have arrested five Romanian men in connection with the incident, which took place toward the end of July.
The daring nighttime raid reportedly involved the alleged robbers driving a modified van right up to the rear of the targeted truck as it motored along the highway. One of the suspects is believed to have climbed onto the van’s hood, which may have had an anti-slip mat stuck onto it, before forcing his way into the back of the truck. It’s thought he then handed the iPhones to his accomplices via a hole cut into the van’s roof.
Ed Kraszewski, a spokesperson for Dutch police, said that his officers had been investigating a spate of thefts from moving trucks but had had their doubts that such an audacious kind of hit could really be achieved. But following Saturday’s arrest of the five suspects — as well as the seizure of the modified van with the phones inside — their suspicions have now been confirmed.
“The truck was taking its freight from A to B and did not stop,” Kraszewski said. “Even so, [the phones] were gone. So it must have happened that way. And now we finally have the evidence, with the van and the loot.”
A video released by Romanian police in 2012 shows a criminal gang attempting to break into a moving truck in a similar way. The footage shows the gang’s van driving at high speed right up against the rear of the truck as one of the criminals prepares to climb into the back.
