Food thieves are getting more and more brazen by the day. While you weep over your panini that got snatched from the office fridge, a bunch of thugs might be carrying out a massive heist that's costing someone, somewhere millions.
Not too long ago, approximately 12 tonnes of KitKat chocolate bars vanished. They were not your ordinary KitKats, though. These were 410,000 special edition Formula 1 car-shaped chocolate bars. They were en route from central Italy to Poland.
Until they weren't.
Many may have thought it was a joke when the story started making headlines. But manufacturer Nestlé did not find it funny. The company appealed to the public and warned that the products can be traced via unique barcodes.
“While we may appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste, this does not change the fact that cargo theft is an increasing challenge for companies of all sizes,” announced Nestlé.
It later emerged that the truck was hijacked by thieves posing as law enforcement. Forbes has called it one of the most unusual cargo thefts in Europe's recent history.
"It sounds like the plot for a reinterpretation of 1969’s original flick The Italian Job, in which [a group of Brits] steal gold bullion in Italy and gets away in three Minis," reported Forbes. "Only this is not the plot for a fictional movie—it’s the real deal. This chocolate heist did happen."
And it's not the first time criminals have carried out food heists that could easily be turned into bizarre blockbuster movies.
People have gone to great lengths to get their hands of food that's not theirs.
Back in 1948, a miniature submarine was discovered in Lake Lugano, Switzerland. Upon closer inspection, it emerged that that 9-foot long vessel had been specifically designed to smuggle salami and cheese across the Swiss–Italian border.
"Powered by pedals connected to a propeller, it was capable of transporting up to 450 kilograms of goods," reports Falstaff magazine.
One of the biggest food heists ever took place in Québec, Canada between 2011 and 2012 when nearly 3,000 tons of maple syrup valued at C$18.7 million went missing from a storage facility. The massive theft went unnoticed for months.
The food thieves had posed as warehouse renters, and used hoses to extract the maple syrup from barrels. They replaced the syrup with water to cover their tracks. Around two-thirds of the syrup was recovered; the remainder never was. The ringleader was sentenced to eight years behind bars.
And if you're still pining for your ramen noodles that got kidnapped from the office fridge that one fateful day, spare a thought for a driver who had almost $100,000 worth of noodles stolen, along with his trailer. The 53-foot tractor trailor had been parked at a Chevron gas station in Fayetteville, Georgia when the thieves struck.
