Cases of meat stolen after thieves break into tractor-trailers in Northeast Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Thieves made off with pallets of meat early Monday morning after two tractor-trailer trucks were broken into in Northeast Philadelphia.

Police say the trucks were parked on Red Lion Road around 1 a.m. when the thieves struck. The drivers, who were asleep in the cabins, were waiting for the nearby refrigeration facility at Quaker Valley Foods to open at 6 a.m.

"The trucks, typically they are running with the refrigerator going, so it's noisy," Captain John Ryan told Action News. "So, it's difficult for them to hear or even feel anything because of the vibration."

Captain Ryan says three men broke into the back of two of the trucks and removed "approximately four pallets of meat" worth about $20,000.

Ryan says the men left the area in a white minivan and a dark-colored SUV.

Police are investigating.

While the heist seems unusual, a similar situation also occurred in November, when thousands of dollars worth of meat was stolen from a truck parked in South Philadelphia.

The 6abc data journalism team found cargo thefts have been on the rise in Philadelphia.

There were 100 reported cargo thefts in the city in 2019, but the data team found that number has steadily increased in the past five years. In 2023, data showed there were 257 cargo thefts in Philadelphia.

According to data from Philadelphia Police, there have been 10 reported cargo thefts in the city so far this year.