Cargo theft was once a fairly low priority for law enforcement, but a growing understanding of the crime's real cost and impact, as well as its links to national security issues, has fostered a new approach to combating the problem. Interjurisdictional teams and task forces are now combining local, state and even federal enforcement resources to fight a crime that's as mobile and quick-moving as trucking, the industry it preys on.

Crime statistics and descriptions of new enforcement tactics offer a broad picture of the problem, but it takes a real-world account to bring life to law enforcement's renewed efforts to counteract cargo theft. Here is the story of a gang dedicated to stealing truck cargo and how one of the first multi-jurisdictional teams formed in this country broke up that gang and brought its members to justice.

The dust swirled and eddied among the trailers parked in the hardpan and gravel lot 60 mi. due west of Los Angeles. Ringed with a 12-ft.-high rusting and worn chain-link fence and home to a small, dilapidated two-bay repair shop, the lot didn't deserve anything more than a sidelong glance and a dismissive sneer if anyone driving by even bothered to look.

Except for Sgt. Mike Arriaga.

From a discreet distance in his unmarked cruiser, sipping on an ice-cold soda to fight off the 95 deg. temperatures that cooked this valley even in late October, Arriaga scanned the three-acre lot with a practiced eye. And practice focused that eye on two plain-vanilla box trailers parked right up against the fence about 40 yd. down. With the nonchalance of regular Joes working a boring, routine job, he and his partner drove up to the gate, exchanged a few pleasantries with the lone security guard sitting by the entrance, and positively ID'd the trailers as the ones for which they'd been searching.

In plain clothes, Arriaga and his partner evoked no suspicions, raised no eyebrows on this particular broiling Monday afternoon. Hell, people passed through the lot at all hours of the day and night. It was a convenient spot for truckers to stash a trailer for the night — or even a week — with few, if any, questions asked. Even RV owners regularly frequented the lot looking for a low-cost place to mothball the 35-footer that wouldn't fit in their driveway. In short, the lot proved to be a well-trafficked, very public place, only loosely guarded.

Arriaga and his partner drove down the long line of intermodal chassis, 53-ft. dry vans and flatbeds easily and slowly, making a wide looping turn, then exited the lot to find a spot where they could sit in their car on a stakeout unnoticed, for days if need be, with nary a second glance from a passersby.

In position, he radioed his team as they spread out around the lot in unmarked cruisers of their own. “Both trailers are there. Keep your eyes open.”

Then he and the rest of the Cargo CATs detectives settled down to wait.

THE DETECTIVES

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept. (LASD) founded its cargo theft investigative unit called the Cargo Criminal Apprehension Team, or “Cargo CATs” for short, back in January 1990 to combat what was becoming a newly popular form of criminal activity — the theft of freight. Assigned to the Major Crimes Bureau of the LASD's detective division, the Cargo CATs are what's known as a “multi-jurisdictional” team designed to specialize in surveillance, investigation, and the apprehension of cargo thieves across southern California.

The Cargo CATs work both in uniform and undercover (hence, you won't see their pictures in this article) and can call on local police departments throughout southern California to help conduct arrests if the need arises.

On stakeout duty at the dusty trailer lot, Arriaga pretty much knew he'd need to call in the local police for this case — just a gut response based on years in law enforcement.

Though a newcomer to the cargo crime beat with only a year under his Cargo CATs belt, Arriaga is nonetheless an LASD veteran with the background and skills the specialized team prizes. He joined the LASD in the early 1980s, worked for a year in the L.A. County Jail (as all rookie sheriff's deputies must), then spent time in narcotics, street patrol, and as a station detective investigating crimes against people and property. His experience with undercover operations, his skills as a detective, and a sixth sense honed by years on street patrol made him a natural fit when a spot opened up on the Cargo CATs.

“In our department, you have to look long and hard to solve crimes,” Arriaga said. “The information you can get on what's stolen is vague; few truck drivers know the license plate or container number on the trailer they are hauling, much less what's in it. We can get a report of a theft days after it occurs — and hours, even minutes, matter in cargo theft. It doesn't take long to transport stolen goods a far distance from the crime scene.”

This case out at the dusty lot, however, proved the exception to the rule, an exception the Cargo CATs and other law enforcement groups fighting cargo criminals hope will become more frequent as truckers and shippers learn what it takes to thwart even sophisticated cargo hijackers.

THE CRIME

It started at a computer logistics company warehouse at 1 a.m. on a Sunday morning as police responded to a burglar alarm. Rats, wiring shorts and all sorts of things trigger false alarms frequently, so when they couldn't find anything wrong, the officers left.

Just as the cargo thieves planned.

Arriaga said the thieves knew that the warehouse was protected by both primary and backup alarm systems. They broke in knowing full well they'd set off the main alarm. Though the police responded in less than six minutes, it gave the thieves enough time to disable the secondary alarm, then exit the building before the first cruiser showed up. After the police left, the thieves waited three hours to make sure the coast was clear, then re-entered the building at 4 a.m. The heist was under way.

Fortunately, Arriaga says this level of organization — the thieves had obviously targeted this warehouse and cased the facility for some time — is still a rarity in the cargo theft world.

“It is difficult to identify a ‘typical’ cargo thief as they come from many different backgrounds. We have seen an increase in more sophisticated cargo thefts, but they're still rare,” he said. “Most cargo thefts involve little or no planning … with some as simple as hooking up to a trailer parked in a yard with no idea what's inside.”

Take the cleaning case earlier this year. A trailer load of steam cleaner solution was boosted and then left 20 mi. down the road. “Obviously, they realized they couldn't do anything with that,” says Arriaga.

The computer warehouse job, however, was another story; the thieves made off with $4.5 million worth of electronics, very fungible electronics on the underground markets for stuff that falls off the back of a truck.

The computer company had left a single trailer at the warehouse dock — conveniently empty. So the thieves put it to good use, hooking it up to one of the two tractors they'd brought along for the job.

But $4.5 million in computers and monitors and other electronic doodads fill a lot of boxes, and one trailer wasn't enough. But these were lucky thieves that Sunday morning. A small trucking company had a terminal just next door with several empty trailers prepped and ready to go, so they went next door and grabbed one.

However, they weren't as lucky as they felt. Taking that fleet's trailer would ultimately prove to be their fatal mistake.

It seems it was the Cargo CATs' turn to get lucky. After receiving a courtesy message about the “false alarm,” employees from the computer company came down to the warehouse later that Sunday just to check things out. Realizing they'd been robbed, they quickly called police, who in turn sent them to the Cargo CATs.

“Time is your enemy in these crimes,” says Arriaga. “From L.A., you can be in Las Vegas in four and a half hours, in Phoenix in six. Once you cross the state line, you are harder to catch. And with all the trucks and trailers out on the highway — at all hours of the day and night — it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack when one is reported stolen a couple of days after the theft.”

This time would be different. The Cargo CATs would soon have the exact location of the needles and the particular haystack they'd been hidden in.