A fake truck driver and cloned license plates were used to steal medications intended for Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis. The entire stolen goods were recovered from a warehouse in Casalnuovo. Three people were charged, and investigations are underway into possible accomplices.
The heist: four pallets disappeared in a few hours
A scam straight out of an '80s movie, with a carefully planned plan and a staggering haul. It happened in Ercolano on the afternoon of February 12, when Carabinieri officers from the local station intervened at a company specializing in the contract manufacturing and labeling of pharmaceuticals.
Shortly before, unknown individuals had stolen four pallets of medicines intended for the treatment of Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis, with an estimated value of approximately 8 million euros.
The scam: fake order and fake transporter
The plan had been drawn up the day before. A man had contacted the company, claiming to be responsible for picking up the goods and arranging the procedures and access.
On the morning of February 12th, a Fiat Ducato van arrived at the entrance. Inside were two men, one in a blue overall and cap, displaying a seemingly legitimate pickup order on a tablet. The warehouse staff loaded the van with a forklift, and the vehicle drove away without arousing suspicion.
The suspicion: the license plate doesn't match
Only in the afternoon did the suspicious employees check the internal images and the Ducato's license plate via the app: it was associated with another vehicle. They called 112.
The Carabinieri acquired company footage and footage from city security cameras. A hindsight reconstruction pinpointed the van in San Sebastiano al Vesuvio, where a video surveillance system captured its true license plate: the vehicle was rented and had no company lettering on the side, which had been removed to mislead the suspects.
The tracks: connections with Parma
The investigations led to two men already arrested and reported on February 11th in Parma near a pharmacy, carrying clothing traced to an import-export company. The images from that check match those from the Ercolano company.
Suspicions focus on a 33-year-old from Sant'Antimo and a 53-year-old from Naples, both already known to law enforcement.
Arrests and recovery: drugs in a warehouse
The two were not found at their homes, but the police tracked down the 53-year-old on the street. Taken to the police station, he admitted his involvement, claiming he had thrown away the drugs because they were unsellable on the black market.
Investigators don't believe this version and, coordinated by the Naples Prosecutor's Office, reconstruct the van's route to a warehouse in Casalnuovo di Napoli: all the medications were found inside. The owner of the premises, a 55-year-old Neapolitan, was also charged.
Investigations are underway for possible accomplices. All the stolen goods have been returned to the pharmaceutical company. Investigations are ongoing to identify other possible participants in the heist, which in its methods and organization resembles the plots of 1980s scam films, but in reality, it ended with the full recovery of the loot and three people in trouble.
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (2)
I agree with you, but I wonder how no one noticed this before. Corporate security should be improved to avoid such unpleasant situations.
The article is very interesting and makes you think about how such scams can happen. It's surprising that they used a van with a cloned license plate. We hope the perpetrators are severely punished.