Police in the U.K. are searching for a gang of robbers after they raided a truck carrying Apple products worth around $6.6 million.
In what appears to have been a carefully planned hold-up, the thieves halted the truck on a ramp linked to the busy M1 highway in Northamptonshire about 70 miles north-west of London.
They then tied up the driver and security guard, drove the truck to a location a short distance away, and transferred the trailer to another truck before driving off, leaving behind the two victims.
The trailer was later found abandoned — and empty — about seven miles north of the ramp where the heist began.
The dramatic raid took place in the early evening of Tuesday, November 10, though police have only just made the details public.
“The truck was later found across the county border in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, where it is believed the offenders transferred the 48 pallets of Apple products into a third vehicle,” the investigators said in its report on the incident.
There’s no information on the specific items that were stolen from the truck, though the raid took place with Apple currently marketing its latest handset, the iPhone 12. The haul could also include Mac computers, iPads, Apple Watches, HomePods, AirPods, and various accessories made by the tech giant.
With their high retail price and popularity among consumers, Apple products can sell well on the black market. Indeed, those investigating last week’s crime said they’re keen to speak to anyone who may have been offered any Apple products for sale in unusual circumstances, or who knows of anyone who is selling such items at lower-than-usual prices.
The heist brings to mind an even more daring raid involving Apple products a few years ago that involved a thief clambering from a van to a truck carrying iPhones as both vehicles sped along a highway in the Netherlands.
The gang reportedly drove the van right up to the rear of the targeted truck. One of the perpetrators then climbed onto the van’s hood before forcing his way into the back of the truck and handing iPhones worth a total of $500,000 to his accomplices via a hole cut in the van’s roof.