Police stop thieves from making off with $55,000 worth of beef in South Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Police stopped thieves from walking away with all the beef in an attempted cargo theft in South Philadelphia.

It happened along the 3300 block of South 7th Street Tuesday morning.

Authorities say the thieves pulled up in a stolen box truck and began taking beef products from a parked tractor trailer that was making a delivery.

The commotion woke up the driver.

"He was awakened by what he described as a shaking of the vehicle. He looked in the mirror and he saw at least four individuals carrying boxes to a white ford truck," said Dep. Commissioner Frank Vanore.

When officers arrived, the thieves jumped into a different vehicle and drove off, leaving the meat behind. After a brief chase, the suspects got away.

There were 185 boxes full of beef worth about $55,000.

The cargo truck driver was not hurt.

It's not uncommon to hear about these robberies. At times there have been up to 12 people all working together. We've covered everything from thefts of crab, to Bourbon, pork and beef products stolen.

Police say the getaway car had paper tags, which aren't pointing them in the right direction. There are surveillance cameras here and police are hoping that footage will aid in this investigation.