Thieves steal 40 boxes of meat from truck in Northeast Philly heist, police say

In an early-morning heist, two thieves stole around 40 boxes of assorted meat products from a tractor trailer parked in a Bustleton lot Sunday, police said.

Shortly after 3 a.m., the truck was parked in the lot behind a business on the 9700 block of Roosevelt Boulevard when the driver felt it shaking and looked around to see two men unloading meat from the vehicle, police said.

The thieves, police said, had broken into the back of the locked truck.

Before police got to the scene at 3:15 a.m., the thieves fled in Nissans with around 40 boxes of Tyson brand meat products, police said.

Eight boxes of meat products were recovered behind the nearby Lowe’s Home Improvement store, police said. No arrests have been made, and the estimated value of the stolen products was not known.

The Sunday take is the latest in a string of cargo thefts over the years in Philadelphia, at least one of which had a six-figure estimated value.

Last September, a crew of six thieves stole three large pallets of crabmeat worth $42,000 from a tractor trailer in South Philadelphia.

Also last September, authorities stopped a trio of would-be thieves from stealing 1,600 pounds of meat from a tractor trailer in Holmesburg, part of an interstate law enforcement investigation dubbed Operation Beef Bandit.

And last July, a group of thieves stole more than 40 crates of frozen meat worth about $15,000 from a tractor trailer in Southwest Philadelphia.

In 2023, a crew of thieves stole more than 2 million dimes worth more than $200,000 from a Florida-bound truck that was parked in Northeast Philadelphia, authorities said. The truck had around $750,000 worth of coins, authorities said.

A trial for the accused thieves is scheduled for August.

Anyone with information on the Sunday theft is asked to call Northeast Detectives at 215-686-3153 or to submit tips anonymously by calling or texting the department’s tip line at 215-686-8477.