Last week, police chased a rogue tractor-trailer in Texas after the vehicle’s owner reported that the driver was out of contact. The chase was televised, but at first it wasn’t clear why the driver of a truck full of vegetables was fleeing from the police in the first place. Today, sources explained the real reason for that car chase: law enforcement suspects that the driver planned to sell the trailer’s contents himself.

Cargo theft is a growing crime: in some cases, drivers sell the contents of their vehicles themselves. In other cases, an experienced and specialized thief takes advantage of a driver abandoning a truck to take off with it, able to find a market for just about anything and resell it.

Vegetables–cabbage and lettuce, in this case–can be resold, and other items from trucks stolen in the area have also turned up for sale online. Apart from being a crime, this is a food safety issue: problem is that thieves may not be as conscientious as experienced drivers at making sure that the temperatures in their trucks are going to stay in a safe refrigeration range.

I-Team Sources: 18-Wheeler Pursuit Is Part Of A Bigger Crime [CBS DFW]
Semi Driver Who Led Police On Chase Failed To Report To Employers For 30 Hours [CBS DFW]

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