A prolific crew of bandits hijacking transport truck cargo — from whisky and perfume to laptops and sneakers — along Europe’s main highways has been busted by police in three countries.
The Mob Reporter here with news of the Planenschlitzer Bande. That’s German for “the Tarpaulin Slashers.” They came at night, quietly and quickly, at rest stops and truck stops along highways and autobahns, slicing open the sides of trucks as the drivers slept. Police said they were about 30 to 50 strong.
They knew exactly what to look for and where to find it, because — and here’s the thing — many of them are professional truck drivers themselves, moonlighting, so to speak.
It was a coordinated police operation that took them down this week, authorities said on Nov. 26, 2021, a joint European policing action, coordinated by Europol, mobilizing a considerable force of French, German and Romanian police. About 57 houses, apartments, storage units and vehicles were raided late last week. 46 of them in Romania’s region of Dâmbovița and 11 in Germany’s Gütersloh. At least 15 people were arrested.
Investigators seized piles of consumer goods and luxury items. In Germany, for example, there was 50 boxes of expensive sports shoes and boxes of kitchen knives. In Romania, 100 boxes of laptop computers; 100 boxes of perfume and cosmetics; piles of new TVs; high-quality shoes, designer clothing; expensive wine, cognac and Scotch whisky; power tools, bicycles, tires, fuel, and lots and lots of TVs and other electronics.
Policing and government officials praised this operation as an example of cross-border cooperation to match the border-hopping gangsters, who preyed on Europe’s motorways. For them, this may be the end of the road.
Germany - MR.
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