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Real-life Fast & Furious-type bandits are out there looking to get their hands on some PlayStation 5s
The high-octane and death-defying antics of Dominic Toretto and the rest of his Fast & Furious pals series are rubbing off on brazen thieves in Europe, who have heisted shipments of PlayStation 5 consoles from moving delivery trucks. According to The Times, which first reported the news, these gangs — who have struck at least 27 times this year — are looking to take advantage of all the expensive goods (PlayStations, TVs, cosmetics, mobile phones, and cigarettes) that are in transit for the Christmas holiday. Some sources are afraid that these are inside jobs where the looters are informed of what trucks are carrying the most valuable items before the capers take place.
Using three vehicles, the bandits will execute what is called a "rollover," in which they box in the truck. "The most sure-footed of the thieves will them climb out the sunroof of the pursuing car and get onto the bonnet of the vehicle," writes The Sun. "Usually secured by a rope, he will then use his tools to open up the back of truck before leaping aboard and throwing out the boxes of loot."
The following video (released by Romanian authorities in 2012) shows how the maneuver is pulled off:
The National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (or Navcis), which received over 3,000 reports of cargo crime in the first nine months of 2020, is reportedly urging "haulage bosses to bolster security and vary their routes to try and beat the crooks," adds The Sun. It's been estimated that companies have lost almost $90 million to "cargo crime" alone in 2020. Last month, for instance, over $6 million of Apple products were pilfered from a truck.
"Somebody must know when and where that vehicle is and it can’t be just random that you are going to attack that. Somebody has done some tipping off," Chrys Rampley, a former security manager at the Road Haulage Association, told The Sun.
The next entry in the F&F franchise, Fast & Furious 9, zooms into theaters on May 28, 2021.
