National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

audio and video equipment and building materials. Machinery is also stolen on
a regular basis. Power shovels and tractors are the most popular, followed by
excavators, forklift trucks and generators.
There clearly are regional hotspots: in the period from January to October 2007
the number of reports to the police regarding thefts in the road transport sector
was highest in the North Limburg region where the number doubled compared
to the same period the previous year. North Limburg was closely followed by
South-East Brabant, which had been number one. Central and Western Brabant
was third, followed by Rotterdam Rijnmond and South Gelderland in fourth and
fifth places. The tarpaulin-cutting method is mainly used in the South, South
East and East of the Netherlands, especially in car parks on or near motorways.
4.4.3 Scale
Although the recording of cargo theft has improved considerably in recent years,
it remains difficult to obtain a complete picture of this offence. Official records
probably only show the tip of the iceberg. There are several reasons for such a
high dark number. Transporters do not always notify the police, for example,
because they are afraid of damage to their reputation and because they believe
that the police will not do much about it. Furthermore it is not always necessary
to make an official report to the police, either because the company is not
insured or it believes that a report would take too much time.
Figure 4 shows the reporting figures for three types of cargo theft in recent
years. We can see a drop from 2002 onwards, which in 2006 suddenly changes
into a sharp rise for theft of only the cargo. This sudden increase is mainly due to
a recording effect: an increase in cargo theft using the tarpaulin-cutting method,
which has only been recorded by the National Transport Crime Team since 2005.
Research shows that 77% of companies in the logistics sector were burgled,
and more than half – possibly even three quarters – of these burglaries were
transport-related.
There are offender groups who prefer certain marks of lorries. Some offender
groups mainly steal relatively old lorries, probably because they will not have
a GPS system on board. Refrigerated trailers are also popular, as they can be
used to transport goods in an airtight environment. There is a suspicion of
a link with cannabis growing because cannabis is sometimes grown in these
types of lorries.
Although international comparisons are subject to many methodology pitfalls,
some sources believe it is fair to say that the Netherlands is not among the worst
countries with regard to vehicle crime in the EU. Lorry thefts are more
154 National Threat Assessment 2008 – Organised crime