Cargo thieves made off with more than 70,000 pints’ worth of the iconic beer Guinness in Cheshire, U.K., reports The Guardian.
Local police said they believed thieves drove two trucks into a distribution center in Runcorn, U.K. on August 31, and hitched them up to trailers holding a combined total of about 800 barrels of the signature dark brown beer with a creamy white head, before driving away.
When including the value of the trailers, the total value of the items stolen is estimated at about £205,000 ($277,000).
The stolen barrels had been intended for delivery to pubs, The Guardian says.
Earlier in August, beer producer Pabst Blue Ribbon reported the theft of 40,000 pounds of its beer from a distribution center in Montclair, California.
Cargo theft is on the rise all over the world. A survey of more than 3,500 fleet managers across seven European countries by geolocation technology company Geotab, the results of which were published in April, found that 64% (55% in the U.K.) say they are less concerned about cargo theft than they were 12 months ago. But this reduced level of concern sits in sharp contrast to reported exposure. Those surveyed by Geotab say they experienced an average of 34 cargo theft-related incidents in the past year (32 in the U.K.), while industry data shows that losses from cargo theft have increased by 438% since 2022.
