$400,000 Lobster Shipment Hijacked to Costco Stores

A shipment valued at $400,000 containing live lobsters bound for Costco stores in Illinois and Minnesota was hijacked en route from a facility in Taunton, Massachusetts, earlier this month, according to the logistics firm overseeing the transport. The theft, discovered on Christmas Eve, has drawn federal investigators who suspect involvement by an organized criminal ring targeting high-value cargo.

Dylan Rexing, CEO of Indiana-based Rexing Companies, which managed the freight brokerage for the shipment, described the incident as deliberate and part of a growing pattern of cargo hijackings. The load, consisting of multiple truckloads of the perishable seafood, was picked up in Taunton but never reached its destinations. Rexing told reporters that criminals likely impersonated legitimate carriers, using tactics such as spoofed emails and burner phones to intercept the goods while in transit. "This theft wasn't random," Rexing said. "It followed a pattern we're seeing more and more."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading the probe, with no arrests announced to date. Rexing noted that law enforcement informed him of a similar incident just 10 days earlier, when a shipment...