- 2 days ago
Dispatches - Season 2025 Episode 10 -
Hunting Britain's Parcel Thieves
Hunting Britain's Parcel Thieves
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00It's been hijacked. It's on the move.
00:06A DPD driver has been robbed. We're going to go on blue lights.
00:13Police are on the trail of criminal gangs who've robbed two parcel delivery vans.
00:19So three IC1 males in a black Ford Focus.
00:24It's part of a new crime wave that's sweeping the country.
00:28They're robbing the van.
00:30They've already bought us every show.
00:32A parcel is now stolen in Britain every seven seconds.
00:38Nicked from our doorsteps.
00:41Or snatched from delivery vans by violent criminals.
00:46It's brazen, what they do. It's really got a sophisticated nature to it.
00:51It's costing us hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
00:55I'm journalist Tia Dondi and I'm investigating Britain's parcel thieves.
01:03The track is moving. It's been stolen.
01:06I'm planting packages with hidden tracking devices.
01:11So where's it going?
01:12To discover how the criminals operate.
01:16The person who took them ended up at this location.
01:21Cash converters.
01:21I meet the thieves cashing in on this crime wave.
01:30Do you ever use violence?
01:32If I had to, then yeah.
01:33What's that like? A knife or...?
01:34Element of surprise, you know, when you're violent.
01:37You catch people off guard.
01:38And I reveal why ruthless, organised crime gangs
01:44now have your deliveries in their sights.
01:48You're under arrest.
01:49The ledge that you have threatened the victim with a firearm
01:52and taking parcels from the back of the DPD van.
01:55I have to admit, I am a bit of a shopaholic.
02:10I'm constantly shopping online.
02:11I love clothes.
02:13So I'm always getting parcels delivered to my flat.
02:19We Brits spend more than £125 billion a year shopping online.
02:24With 11 million parcels landing on our doorsteps every day.
02:35And when I get the notification that a parcel's being delivered,
02:38it gives me a bit of a buzz.
02:40But there's a growing problem.
02:51Someone's stolen my parcel.
02:52Someone has stolen my parcel.
02:54Someone's stolen my parcel from the building I live in, right?
02:58Neighbourhood social media groups are full of warnings about parcel fees.
03:02One in seven of us have had a delivery stolen.
03:06Where is it?
03:07Where's the parcel?
03:09It's a crime that costs us £660 million a year.
03:15Leave £300 worth of stuff on the drive.
03:18And there we go.
03:20Good fire.
03:21He's taken it.
03:23I just can't get over it.
03:27It's such a global problem...
03:29..that revenge-fuelled videos like these
03:37are getting millions of views on social media.
03:39Come on out of my eyes!
03:45Oh, no, no, no!
03:47Damn it!
03:48Come on out of my eyes!
03:49Oh, no, no, no!
03:51Damn it!
03:52Come on out of my eyes!
03:53Come on out of my eyes!
03:54Come on out of my eyes!
03:57In the run-up to Christmas, we want our deliveries to arrive safely and on time.
04:04But there's a growing risk that parcel thieves will ruin the vibe.
04:08Come on out of my eyes!
04:09Come on out of my eyes!
04:10Come on out of my eyes!
04:10Come on out of my eyes!
04:11Come on out of my eyes!
04:11So, who are these criminals snatching our deliveries?
04:16And where do all of our stolen parcels go?
04:21To find out, I'm setting up a sting operation to catch them in the act.
04:28Leaving packages with secret trackers in parcel theft hotspots across London.
04:34We have two North Face jackets and we're going to put trackers in them.
04:39The tracker is just here, hidden behind this little bit of Velcro.
04:44It is really well hidden.
04:45I don't think you would be able to detect this if you were to steal it.
04:59It seems to be working.
05:00It says exactly where we are now.
05:04I've got a phone app which shows where the trackers are.
05:07If one moves, I'll follow it.
05:14My colleague has gone to go and put the parcels in the building.
05:25So now all we can do is wait.
05:27See if they get stolen.
05:28We've become reliant on home shopping.
05:39Every day, millions of parcels crisscross the country.
05:45So why are they such easy pickings for thieves?
05:48Keeps you fit, doesn't it?
05:49Absolutely.
05:55The faster we get it done, the more we get paid in a shorter time frame.
05:59Otherwise, we'd be here all day.
06:04Kyle works for one of the country's biggest parcel firms.
06:07How many parcels do you deliver a day, roughly?
06:13So today is a quiet day and that's about 300-ish, give or take.
06:18300?
06:19Yeah.
06:19And then busier days can generate probably be around 4.50 tomorrow, maybe a bit more.
06:24Okay.
06:25And then Christmas time, you're looking at 600.
06:27300, 600 at Christmas time?
06:30Yep.
06:30Wow.
06:33So, people want their stuff.
06:35Yeah.
06:40Two for number one.
06:43Many drivers are paid per parcel, earning as little as 36 pence a package.
06:49If they don't keep the pace up, earnings can fall below minimum wage.
06:53Under pressure to deliver quickly, some drivers have to knock and drop.
07:03Carl says he only does this with his customer's blessing.
07:09No problem.
07:11So, that customer there, I leave the parcel there if they see me.
07:13If they don't see me, I'll ring the doorbell.
07:15Someone comes out and picks it up.
07:17Got you.
07:17They're quite happy to do that.
07:19So, it's okay to leave it on the doorstep sometimes?
07:22I mean, policy-wise, no.
07:24No delivery company is ever meant to leave the package unsafe.
07:29Yeah.
07:30But at the end of the day, the customer wants their item.
07:37It's a system that thieves have been quick to exploit.
07:42I feel like around here, it doesn't feel like there's going to be a lot of parcel there.
07:46You say that, but the house we're delivering to next,
07:50they had parcels stolen.
07:52Oh, really?
07:52Yeah.
07:55It's not just parcels on doorsteps that are at risk.
08:05Thieves want the delivery vans too.
08:08I learnt the lesson, keys.
08:12So, yeah, it was an expensive lesson to learn, but a lesson that had to be learnt.
08:17Yeah.
08:20It happened all so quickly.
08:21I had literally jumped out of the van, and by the time I dropped the parcel off and come back
08:26up from the house, bearing in mind it was 20 yards, if that, the van had started driving off,
08:31into the distance, and that was it. It was gone.
08:35How many parcels were inside?
08:37It was about 250, I think.
08:38God.
08:39So, it's a lot, yeah.
08:41I contacted the police, they couldn't really do anything, and they searched for the van,
08:45but it was long gone.
08:47You know, there's still, I'm constantly scanning around for people, scanning around for vehicles,
08:52because you just don't know, it could be anyone.
08:54It's hard to be, you know, have your wits around you when you're delivering that many parcels,
08:58and you're acting so fast all the time.
09:00You have to be.
09:01Thanks.
09:14Should we go and sit down here?
09:18Unions representing delivery drivers are increasingly concerned.
09:23It's insane, the level of parcel theft that goes on.
09:27Couriers are sitting ducks, they are targets.
09:30Individuals will target them for the high value items they have on the vehicle,
09:35and the amount of violence is increasing.
09:39If somebody pulls out a machete on you, what are you going to do?
09:43You're going to just say, I'll give up the vehicle, the items in it.
09:48We know that couriers are followed as they leave the depots that they're coming from.
09:53We know that people research the route.
09:57It's absolutely ruthless.
10:00What are you going to do?
10:03What are you going to do?
10:05In London, I'm checking in on the trackers hidden in my parcels.
10:10Just a few hours on the doorstep and a thief has taken the bait.
10:14So we're heading to the location now of where the tracker's been pinging.
10:18We can even see who has nicked our jacket.
10:23So I've got the ring doorbell footage from the house where the parcel was stolen from.
10:29And he comes with the parcel already in his hand.
10:33This is pretty blatant. He's not wearing a face covering.
10:36He's rooting around on someone's street in the middle of the night.
10:39And then he has the audacity to go to their doorstep and steal a parcel.
10:47And that's our jacket.
10:52The thief has no idea I'm tracking his every move.
10:55The guy stole it and then he went on a bike, we think, around London until seven in the morning.
11:04And now he's ended up at this location, a big block of flats.
11:08The jacket's distinctive, so if we see someone wearing it, the plan is to confront them.
11:21It's moving. It's moving.
11:22Oh, wait, the tracker's moving now.
11:25OK, so where's it going?
11:38I'm on the hunt for Britain's parcel thieves.
11:49They've stolen from almost five million households this year.
11:58We're lying in wait for one of them, a criminal who's nicked a package with our hidden tracker inside.
12:04The tracker is showing that it's online and it's just moved a little bit,
12:10probably a few metres from where it originally was,
12:14which makes me think that maybe it's just been moved inside the flat that it's in.
12:21So this is the jacket that we're looking for.
12:24It's sort of burgundy, north face.
12:26It's got a fur hood and it's pretty distinctive, I would say.
12:30If someone were to walk out in it, we'd be able to spot them.
12:34We've been here all day.
12:54Tracker has only moved ever so slightly, but it's in one of these buildings.
12:59It's just hard to figure out exactly where.
13:04We'll monitor the tracker.
13:06If it moves, we'll confront the thief.
13:18Drivers drop off more than four billion parcels a year.
13:26Deliveries peak in the run-up to Christmas.
13:28And so do opportunities for thieves.
13:41Hello?
13:41Hey, how are you doing?
13:42Are you with him now?
13:43Yeah, I am.
13:45We are heading to a location that he is targeting in the past.
13:53I'll get that over to you.
13:54OK, perfect.
13:56I want to talk to some of these criminals.
14:00Through a middleman, I make contact with someone who says he's a prolific parcel thief.
14:07I think he should be coming now.
14:08He's just around the corner.
14:13He's wearing a mask because he doesn't want to be identified.
14:16Hi, I'm Tia. What shall I call you?
14:23Call me Jay.
14:24Jay.
14:32Across the road there, there's a delivery van.
14:35Oh, yeah.
14:36It's quite frequent along here, you get them.
14:39What would you usually do?
14:40If I wasn't with you guys now, I'd probably sit here and watch him.
14:43I'd see where he puts parcels and I'd probably follow him up the road.
14:47So would you usually try and get the parcels when the driver's away from the vehicle?
14:51Well, if he puts them down and he drives off, yeah, or if he might
14:55leave his van on and leave it open.
14:57He might run and do a parcel dropping.
14:59It could be a bit of away from the van.
15:00It might be right next to, like, that door there.
15:02If we've got enough time, we can get in and get out.
15:06Right now, this guy's going to pull off now.
15:08Look, follow that van.
15:13When you're following the van, are you on foot?
15:15Are you in a vehicle?
15:16Vehicles, bikes, you could be on anything.
15:19And what sort of stuff do you usually steal?
15:22Everything, whatever we can get our hands on.
15:24I'm not psychic, I don't know what's in the back of the van.
15:27All I know is it's worth money.
15:30There it is.
15:31That's our van there.
15:36Look, there's not any sign.
15:38It has it turned on, look.
15:41Has it blocked the van?
15:43This is right.
15:43If I wasn't with you guys right now, I'd jump in that van and I'd drive to somewhere around
15:46now and get away and empty the contents and leave.
15:49It's still a van?
15:50Oh, yeah.
15:52Isn't that quite hot, though?
15:53That's, I mean, you're most likely to get caught by doing that.
15:56I'd be in it to win it if you want all the contents in that van.
15:59If you catch the van early enough, you'll get a good day's wage.
16:02You won't need to go out for a while.
16:04What would you do with the van afterwards?
16:06Probably a torch, yes.
16:07Have you done that before?
16:08I don't want to incriminate myself.
16:10You're sounding like you have done that before.
16:13Maybe I have, maybe I haven't, but I just know certain things.
16:17When you do certain things in life, you learn certain things.
16:22Oh, look, here we go.
16:23Look, the gentleman has now come back to the van,
16:25which means he has been somewhere for that amount of time.
16:27Mm-hm.
16:30The delivery driver has no idea he's at risk.
16:35Easy pickings.
16:37Look, here we go.
16:40So, with these delivery drivers, a lot of them, they're self-employed,
16:44so they get paid per parcel.
16:45If you were to steal their van, that could be taking them out completely
16:49in terms of stealing their livelihood.
16:52You should protect your work and your items a lot better than really,
16:54shouldn't you, in that respect?
16:57Yeah.
16:59He signed up for that job.
17:01Loved me.
17:02And do you think it's happening to them all the time?
17:05Of course.
17:05It could be happening here now, how I'm watching the van.
17:07If I wasn't with you guys, if I was with my pals,
17:11this is my line of work.
17:12So, when you say, with your pals, how many of you are there?
17:14It depends.
17:16It all depends.
17:18Have you ever been confronted by a delivery driver?
17:23Once or twice.
17:25What happened?
17:25Like you said, they're just trying to do what they're drunk.
17:29They're trying to protect their lives, you know?
17:31Sometimes it'll work for them, sometimes it don't.
17:34I can imagine they'd be quite scared.
17:38Possibly.
17:39Do they come across as scared to you?
17:41Maybe in that moment, yes, yeah.
17:43And that's why they act the way they do.
17:45Yeah.
17:46Well, I guess if someone's in a balaclava, stealing their parcels,
17:49they must be scared.
17:50Hopefully.
17:52Hopefully.
17:53Otherwise, that's when it becomes more serious.
17:56Wow.
17:56Okay.
17:58Do you ever use violence?
18:04I've got a really odds for that.
18:05If I had to, then yeah.
18:09Are there times where you have to?
18:11Yeah.
18:12Yeah?
18:13There has been, yeah.
18:14What's that, like, a knife or...?
18:16I can't really say too much.
18:17Okay.
18:20Element of surprise, you know, when you're violent,
18:22you catch people off guard.
18:24So it's a lot easier.
18:26But at the same time, it's a lot more commotion because it's violence.
18:30If you can get away with doing something quietly, so be it.
18:35Do you want to do that, do you think?
18:39Who doesn't, who doesn't?
18:40You do what you want to get the reward.
18:44You know, you've got to risk it.
18:45If you really want to get it, you risk it.
18:50I've always assumed that the people stealing our deliveries
18:53are low-level opportunistic thieves.
18:57But Jay says he's a persistent criminal, willing to use violence.
19:04So is this typical?
19:05It's thought that one in 350 incidents of parcel theft
19:11is actually reported to the police.
19:13And so this is attracting the attention of individuals
19:16who know that they can potentially profit from this
19:19with relative impunity.
19:22What we know about thieves is that they don't just steal one or two items.
19:26And so somebody who is routinely stealing parcels from somebody's doorstep
19:30is probably also stealing from open car doors or perhaps even burglary or shop theft.
19:38These are often career criminals and they will help themselves whenever opportunity arises.
19:43And over time they become far more serious in the level and volume of crime that they engage with.
19:49Over the past year, the average value of a stolen parcel has risen sharply from 102 to 138 pounds,
20:01hitting consumers in the pocket.
20:04There's been times when, like, the doorbell rings saying parcel.
20:07By the time I get from my flat to the front, it's vanished.
20:12In the last year, I've had, I'd say, around five parcels stolen.
20:16I've lost quite a lot of money.
20:19I've had my children's school uniform order stolen right before school started in September.
20:24We've had a fair amount of parcel theft in this building.
20:27People have had medicine stolen, people have had trainers stolen.
20:30Obviously, some of that money I have been able to claim back.
20:33But, yeah, over the last three or four years, I'd say thousands of pounds worth of stuff has gone missing.
20:39Because consumers can get refunds or replacements,
20:43some see parcel theft as a victimless crime.
20:48Would you say that parcel theft is victimless?
20:50People don't get the goods that they paid for and that is theft, that is a crime.
20:54It's not always easy to get your money back, especially if you've nominated
20:57a safe place for your parcel to be left and that's where the item gets stolen from.
21:01Technically, the retailer has fulfilled their obligations
21:04and so they might not feel the need to give a refund or replacement.
21:07So it's absolutely not victimless because you aren't guaranteed to get your money back.
21:10Another of our parcels has been snatched.
21:26This time, some expensive speakers from a doorstep in north-west London.
21:36We've got the tracker here and the person who took them walked around for a little bit
21:41before ending up at this location.
21:46I think it's just on the right up here.
21:51I follow the tracker for about a mile to a high street in Harlsdon.
21:55It seems the thief has taken the stolen speakers to this shop.
22:02Well, they're not in the shop window.
22:04Cash Converters, a national chain, buys and sells second-hand goods and lends money against valuable items.
22:14It says it follows strict rules on every transaction to avoid buying stolen goods.
22:23The tracker seems to be pinging to this exact location.
22:27So I'm going to go inside and I'm going to tell them that I'm working for Channel 4 dispatches
22:31and that we have trackers in the speakers and we're going to see if any of the staff have seen them.
22:40I show an employee my tracker app.
22:45He agrees that our speakers appear to be in the back of the shop.
22:50So how have they ended up here?
22:52It's a bit frustrating. I asked him quite a lot of questions and he did tell me that there's a
22:57storeroom upstairs with about 2,000 items but he wasn't willing to go and look up there.
23:03I even offered and said, I'll go up there and have a look and he said no to that.
23:08The employee told me to contact Cash Converters' head office.
23:12They said we had to report the theft of our speakers to the police
23:16but failed to explain how these stolen goods found their way into the shop.
23:20I arranged to meet up again with Jay, the man who says he's a parcel thief.
23:33Hey. Hi.
23:40Looks like you've had a successful day.
23:42A little like a day's graft, you know.
23:45How long were you doing it for today?
23:47An hour or so.
23:49So you've got four parcels in an hour, is that usual?
23:52Sometimes you get more.
23:53We've got us a little rice cooker here.
23:57Okay, so you've opened that one.
23:58Yeah.
23:59And then the rest of them, have you any idea what's inside them?
24:02Not yet.
24:03You don't know?
24:04We're going to find out.
24:05Okay.
24:08And were these just on someone's doorstep?
24:10Yeah, most of them.
24:11So you've got some cleaning products?
24:15Yeah.
24:17Well, I'll just keep them, put them to the side.
24:19In this game, you take what you can get your hands on, you know.
24:21We'll see what else we got.
24:22We might get something better.
24:28Okay.
24:29Heater, kettle.
24:31You're getting a lot of household appliances today.
24:33Yeah, that'll come in handy for someone.
24:38One more.
24:41How do you feel when you're unboxing the packages?
24:44Like a kid.
24:45I can't wait.
24:47Is it almost like opening a birthday present?
24:48Yeah.
24:50What's that?
24:51I don't know.
24:52Could be aftershave, could be anything.
25:01Right.
25:02It's a dildo.
25:03Yes.
25:04Do you guys want that?
25:06I'm all good, thanks.
25:09So, what are you going to do with that then?
25:11Nah, that'll get put to the side for now.
25:13You won't sell it?
25:14Maybe, to the right person.
25:16If someone says they need one, yeah.
25:18A lot of the items aren't really worth a lot.
25:21What would you say?
25:22Some days are like this, some days are better.
25:25We've got a fan, nice little kettle.
25:28I was a bit disappointed by the last one,
25:30and thought it would have been a nice perfume or something.
25:31But, you know, it's the irony.
25:33You get these things sometimes.
25:36You never know.
25:40Is it worth it?
25:40Sometimes, yeah.
25:42Sometimes you hit gold.
25:43You get good parcels.
25:44Sometimes you get little things, household things.
25:47It's all right.
25:47Just steal parcels.
25:48It's steal money.
25:49Mm-hmm.
25:50What's the most expensive thing you've ever stolen?
25:53Designer clothes, jewellery.
25:55Sometimes you get jewellery.
25:56Sometimes you get brand new iPhones.
25:58It could be anything, really.
26:00This is just a little side hustle for me.
26:02I've got, I'm into all different hustles.
26:05What other hustles do you do?
26:06Burgaries, robberies, thrifts.
26:10Pretty much a few things, really.
26:11I guess your speciality is almost stealing.
26:14Wherever there's money to be made, that's what I specialise in.
26:17Do you know what the sort of repercussions are for parcel theft?
26:21Yeah, not much.
26:22Really?
26:23Yeah.
26:24Some get put on tags, some can't interact with certain people.
26:29Girl, we're really pushing it for time, guys.
26:31I can't really be too long.
26:33Why? Where do you need to be?
26:34I've got other avenues I need to go and have a look at.
26:36More parcel theft?
26:39Other things as well, but...
26:41Well, to me, you're stealing parcels like this,
26:44you're impacting the person whose parcel it was,
26:46as well as the delivery drivers.
26:49Does it make you feel bad that you're almost stealing their livelihood?
26:52No.
26:53Why not?
26:54Some leave the parcels on doorsteps.
26:56It's the chance you take with that game.
26:58So you're saying it's almost their fault for leaving it on the doorstep?
27:02You said it, not me.
27:06Yeah, we've pushed it for enough time, guys.
27:08I need to make movements and get out.
27:09All right, I'll leave you to it.
27:10A parcel theft crime wave is sweeping the country.
27:32I've discovered how opportunistic criminals are snatching deliveries from drivers
27:39and our doorsteps.
27:43And it's so lucrative that organised crime gangs are now moving in.
27:47We've got two vehicle convoy using false plates.
27:57We've got three units looking for it.
27:59They're going to want some tactics pretty quickly.
28:02At this Met Police Command Centre,
28:04officers from the elite flying squad are hunting organised crime gangs,
28:09robbing parcel delivery vans.
28:10We've seen a rise and a real peak in these figures.
28:17We're seeing a level of sophistication, organisation,
28:21and gangs getting involved and using violence.
28:24We have seen incidents where knives have been threatened,
28:28weapons have been seen.
28:30Some of the suspects were wearing balaclavas.
28:32So they're going with a precondition that they're going to either rob
28:36or steal items from the couriers.
28:40I'm joining the police on a special operation to take down the hijack gangs.
28:51With millions of Black Friday parcels out for delivery,
28:54the threat to drivers is high.
28:58Are they likely to be armed or violent, do you think?
29:00There's been times before where they have been armed.
29:03It could be just where there's...
29:04There's been a robbery in Sutton.
29:19Yeah, for a DPD van in Sutton.
29:21So we're going to go on blue lights.
29:25Off we go.
29:26So three IC1 males in a black Ford Focus.
29:33Is there just one car or multiple vehicles?
29:35There's mention of two vehicles.
29:38Two vehicles at separate times have followed this DPD van,
29:43acting suspiciously.
29:44Another police unit reaches the scene first, but the gang has already fled with the goods.
29:53That could be in the region of sort of £20,000 worth of items being stolen.
29:58We have found that most of the parcels that are stolen usually contain either mobile phones
30:05or contain high value items such as laptops or electricals.
30:12The police are still hunting for the robbers.
30:14We know the two vehicles they're using now.
30:18We've got their registrations.
30:19There's a lot of effort being put into finding those vehicles.
30:22Those vehicles will get searched for until we find them.
30:26A second emergency call comes in.
30:31The last one that's just come in at the moment is a theft of DPD van.
30:34So someone's stolen the DPD van while the driver's working.
30:39That's in the Uxbridge Road area.
30:41And then hopefully we can get some vehicle, get some units towards it.
30:47Two delivery vans, robbed in just one morning.
30:59In the past two years, the Flying Squad has identified
31:0220 organised parcel theft gangs and made 48 arrests.
31:07So this one here, you can see delivery had actually been in progress.
31:22One of the mails has climbed inside the van.
31:25And they're picking out which of the parcels they actually want to steal.
31:43Mobile phone and dash cam footage proved crucial to the police investigation.
31:47People are absolutely terrified.
31:53Yeah, you can see, I think, by how this person's filming.
31:57But you can see why, you know, they're all in black, their faces are covered.
32:02They've got other vans lined up ready to take the parcels,
32:06so that whenever they're stopped by police, they have nothing in their cars or clean.
32:16So most of the time, the drivers were witnessing what was happening.
32:20Gosh.
32:21And I guess the advice from a lot of delivery companies is for them to not do anything.
32:26Because it's dangerous. Oh, absolutely. You know, don't intervene.
32:28There's been massive threats of violence. There's been weapons seen.
32:34The criminals ambushed and robbed 18 vans.
32:39Stealing deliveries worth more than £75,000.
32:43This is the same vehicle that we've seen in the last footage. It's on cloned plates.
32:51So we are able to follow that intelligence, build up a case.
32:58Police officer recorded that. He was off duty.
33:03Yeah, let me just find out now. One second.
33:08Hi, can I have a place, please?
33:13I have a place, please.
33:16When the same gang strikes again, the police are primed.
33:20A helicopter locates the getaway car.
33:24And detectives give chase.
33:28That vehicle has just been involved in a robbery.
33:31Within seconds, they'd change the number plate.
33:38Detectives intercept the vehicle.
33:40And the gang's crime spree is brought to an end.
33:49The three men had stolen almost 400 parcels.
33:53They pleaded guilty and are waiting to be sentenced.
33:56It's not just in London that criminals are targeting parcel vans.
34:09I'm heading to Leeds to find out what happened when one delivery driver stood up to a thief.
34:15DCI James Entwistle led the investigation.
34:22What do you know about Claudio?
34:25So Claudio was described by his partner as a ray of sunshine, a genuinely happy person.
34:32So this is the scene of the crime. Can you tell me what happened that day?
34:36August the 20th last year, Claudio Carol Condor is delivering parcels on behalf of Amazon.
34:46He's spotted by Mark Ross, who's leaving his house nearby.
34:50Claudio pulls onto Alliance Street, followed by Mark Ross.
35:04Claudio makes one more delivery.
35:06We think he probably leaves the keys in the ignition.
35:09Mark Ross dives into the driver's seat.
35:14Claudio spots him and makes a desperate dive for the passenger seat to try and stop his livelihood being taken.
35:20But Mark Ross drives off with Claudio still clinging on to the passenger seat.
35:30This is some of the CCTV that we collected.
35:33What you see is the van travelling really high speeds, nearly 60mph down the main road.
35:38It's going so fast.
35:42So Claudio was holding onto the van and Mark Ross was going 60mph down Residential Street.
35:48Yes. Claudio's then dragged for half a mile.
35:52Mark Ross strikes one car, that doesn't dislodge Claudio.
35:57He strikes a second car and that does dislodge Claudio.
35:59And Claudio dies half a mile down the street.
36:02That's absolutely awful.
36:04Those last few seconds of Claudio's life must have been horrific.
36:09Claudio had moved to this country to make a life for himself and his partner.
36:14He'd always worked.
36:15He continued to work every hour he possibly could to provide for them.
36:19And that was snatched away by Mark Ross.
36:25Detectives quickly caught up with Claudio's killer.
36:28This is his arrest from one of the addresses that we found for him.
36:34It's not me in time, Mark.
36:36You're under arrest on suspicion of murder.
36:38He doesn't seem that shocked, but...
36:40I think he looks resigned.
36:41Yeah.
36:44So Mark Ross was convicted of murder at trial and was sentenced to 30 years on a life sentence.
36:51The police had come across him dozens, if not hundreds of times, for other theft-related offences.
36:59That's what he did.
36:59He stole things.
37:07Back in London, a third parcel thief has struck.
37:11So we've had another parcel stolen.
37:16We caught him in the act on the ring doorbell and he's wearing a balaclava,
37:21so we can't exactly see what he looks like.
37:23The thief doesn't know we're on his trail.
37:30We put some speakers in a location in Hackney, really heavy speakers,
37:35and for the last two hours you can see on the tracker that they've been moving around East London.
37:42He's really going around, isn't he?
37:44He's doing 40 miles an hour on residential streets.
37:48But he's kind of doing a bit of the same lap.
37:51So I wonder what he's up to.
37:59He seems to end up at this one location in Homerton, which we're heading to now.
38:09I think it's just around the corner.
38:12We're just coming into the entrance to the Boca Flats.
38:17So we're about 10 meters away from where the tracker is showing up.
38:23But it could be inside those Boca Flats or it could be in those cars.
38:27So we're about to investigate parcel-themed gangs.
38:40We're about to investigate parcel-theft gangs.
38:42to investigate parcel theft gangs we've hidden trackers in packages and left them on doorsteps
38:55across london three have now been snatched so where do stolen items like ours end up
39:05through my contacts i've managed to get hold of someone who we call a fence
39:08someone who takes the parcels off the parcel thief and then sells them on the man who says
39:15he's a fence has agreed to speak to me on condition i don't reveal his identity
39:21okay i think he's just down there so i'm going to go meet him now
39:38hiya what's going on you good yeah good thanks how are you yeah yeah i'm here nice to meet you
39:45nice to meet you jack yeah no problem nice to meet you oh wow this is where business happens anything
39:55of tech more than technology would take usually it's iphones laptops macbook pros you know of all
40:01thoughts so they're all iphones are they yeah iphones samson's phones galore
40:08around an iphone release do you see more iphones coming in of course yeah the newest technology is
40:14obviously getting the most money we got youngsters out there to take them and we just make a little
40:20profit on martin what what's this is that one of the containers with the barrels they go in yeah
40:24right after the port afterwards get shipped out in the container yeah he says he smuggles the stolen
40:34goods out of the country
40:38so you fill this barrel up with stuff like that phones electronics yes we'll fill it with other
40:46things as well like t-shirts clothing items it's a bumpy ride that goes overseas so it's it's a
40:53shit didn't it so we wrap it up do you think that a lot of your items are going to come from stolen
40:57parcels i imagine it is it's in the brides that kind of thing sometimes i get some of the boxes and
41:03the wrappers that might have been from parcels you know parcel theft it's victimless if they take it
41:07like that all you've got to do is run up take the parcel off the drive just technology it can be replaced
41:13that's how i see it well either way if it's snatched off someone or from the parcel people
41:17they're hitting this barrel and where's the container going to it goes to parts of africa
41:26you know nigeria or places like that because that's where the markup is overseas they haven't
41:30got those items over there it's like gold dust over there how much money are you making from that
41:36it depends contain the container so if the items are low value i'll make about two grand and if it's
41:43higher value items like the iphone 16s then i'll get 10 grand how much are you buying an iphone for
41:51about 50 pounds for an iphone
41:56do you think that a lot of thieves have resorted to parcel theft because they know that the items
42:01are going to be brand new that's what i would assume so i guess but they're doing a lot of recorded
42:06delivery these days you know so you've got to do the inside work has got to happen you've got to have
42:11links from what i've heard you've got to have links inside the companies how does that work well they
42:18get a fee for the item the delivery drivers yeah or they might have a guy on the inside working for
42:23the for the parcel of company and he's willing to give information out about where packages are going
42:29so the people you know that want to take them and just pop up and take them and when you say
42:35tracking a lot of tracking goes into this what do you mean by that well you've got to watch the
42:39bands got for intelligence onto them onto the vehicles but they moved the phones around him
42:46you know and you've got to know times you know and their dresses and things like that
42:51they just kick yeah they can get their hands on and i buy them
42:56it's not just drivers that organized crime gangs have on their payroll
43:02gangs are also infiltrating parcel distribution centers
43:05there's a whole range of different tactics that they might use so some of it might be around
43:11collusion so beginning to work with drivers or individuals in the warehouses and distribution
43:17centers often those organized criminals will know what's in the parcel before it's even been dispatched
43:23and they're able to intercept it redirect it to other addresses or there can be insiders and
43:29they'll tell them what's going to be in which products and where they may be left unattended
43:34or how they could potentially intercept them whilst they're en route
43:39in 2024 a gang stole 70 000 pounds worth of items after infiltrating a delivery company
43:47and earlier this year gang members were jailed after stealing 800 000 pounds worth of goods
43:54from a parcel distribution center they were working in
44:06i've spent weeks on the trail of the thieves who stole our parcels containing hidden trackers
44:13it's been incredibly frustrating because we've had a few parcels stolen we've been able to track their
44:19whereabouts but we haven't been able to pinpoint the person who took them i haven't been able to confront
44:27the thieves because it's not safe for me to go into the blocks where they've taken our parcels
44:32but we have been able to gather lots of information about where those stolen goods have gone
44:37which i show professor taylor there's a level of organization to this nobody would just naturally
44:50move around in that higgledy-piggledy way and suggest to me that this is somebody or a group of people
44:56that are traveling around with the intention of picking up parcels they may be scouting the location or
45:03they know one of the delivery drivers routes that they will typically take and they're just following
45:09picking up the goods after they've been delivered
45:17three of our parcels ended up in a block of flats or on a housing estate they haven't moved since
45:26that suggests to me that this is where they're almost warehousing stolen goods they'll have somebody
45:32then sorting through them taking out the identifying details from each of the packages names addresses
45:38receipts etc and then you'll have somebody else who's going to begin listing those typically online
45:43to then sell on to somebody else potentially they could also be storing them to then ship out of the
45:49country the impact of this going unchecked is that we'll see a higher value of goods being stolen will
45:56increase that level of criminality on our streets and on our doorsteps and ultimately we'll be funding
46:02organized crime our investigation shows that the thieves we see snatching parcels from our doorsteps
46:10and not just low-level opportunists this is a crime that's increasingly linked to organized and
46:16violent gangs making tens of thousands of pounds a day so this christmas while we're waiting for our
46:23presence to arrive the thieves will be waiting too
46:35you
46:53you
47:07you
Be the first to comment