The BBC has uncovered evidence that criminal organisations are acquiring transport firms to masquerade as legitimate truckers whilst systematically stealing entire lorry loads of merchandise.
Investigators discovered that multiple haulage businesses were obtained through the fraudulent use of a deceased person’s personal information.
One such fraudulently acquired transport company secured work as a subcontractor for a legitimate UK logistics operator. A manufacturer loaded their vehicle with products, which subsequently vanished without trace.
Alison, whose real identity is being protected, manages the Midlands-based logistics company that fell victim to the fraudulent subcontractors. She describes it as “incredible” that criminal gangs can “target a company so blatantly”.
This audacious strategy represents just one method criminals are employing against haulage operators who transport retail merchandise and various supplies throughout the nation, with freight theft climbing to £111 million last year from £68 million in 2023.
Video evidence obtained by the BBC demonstrates criminals targeting lorries during deliveries, forcing entry into vehicles whilst stationary in traffic, destroying locks, breaching depot security, and taking complete trailers filled with cargo.
Lorry operators, who regularly must park overnight in their vehicles, have informed the BBC that they frequently awaken to discover the curtained panels of their trucks have been slashed by thieves attempting to access the cargo within, with shipments of premium clothing, alcoholic beverages and electronic equipment amongst the most frequently targeted items.
“You should care because it hits your wallet,” explains John Redfern, previously a security manager at a leading supermarket chain. The increasing volume of stolen products will eventually drive up consumer prices over time, he explained.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) stated that freight crime is growing “more sophisticated, more organised” and emphasised that police services must collaborate with the transport sector to address the problem.
Identity theft targeting transport operators – including criminals operating fake haulage enterprises – is increasing throughout the UK, according to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service.
“Our industry is under attack,” states Richard Smith, managing director of the Road Haulage Association. The trade organisation receives daily reports of businesses being targeted by “highly organised crime gangs” whilst police have cautioned them regarding “a recent growth” in considerably more sophisticated tactics, he explains.
The fraud pattern identified by the BBC mirrors schemes previously observed by Europol across mainland Europe, where “legitimate transport companies on the brink of bankruptcy” are purchased by organised criminal groups who collect multiple cargoes “and then vanish”.
Lorry Crime Exposed
Watch on iPlayer now, or on BBC One in the East and West Midlands at 20:30 on Monday 17 November
Following the attack on Alison’s company, investigating officers informed her that police were examining similar offences across other UK regions.
Alison’s transport firm, which moves millions of pounds’ worth of goods nationally each year, employed a smaller logistics company as a subcontractor for a delivery earlier this year. She explains that she occasionally does this when her vehicles are occupied elsewhere or poorly positioned geographically.
“Their insurance was in place, their operators’ licence was in place,” she recalls. “It looked great.” The vehicle arrived at the manufacturing facility, where forklift operators loaded it with DIY merchandise before the lorry departed, she states.
However, neither Alison nor the manufacturers realised the lorry was displaying counterfeit registration plates. It disappeared along with cargo valued at £75,000.
“The first we knew about it was the destination company rang us and said, ‘where’s our load gone?'” Alison recounts. She attempted to contact the subcontractor, but discovered the telephone number had been disconnected.
A deceased man’s identity
Who had taken the merchandise? Investigators followed a complex trail involving a deceased man’s identity, an enigmatic Romanian woman and a £150,000 Lamborghini Urus.
The firm Alison engaged was named Zus Transport. One month prior to the theft, it had been sold by its former proprietors – there is no indication they were connected to any criminal activity.
The BBC established that the acquisition was financed through a bank transfer from a company controlled by a UK-based Romanian lorry driver named Ionut Calin, who used his middle name Robert.
Investigators found a network of five transport businesses, including Zus Transport, apparently acquired by Mr Calin this year.
However, Mr Calin died in November 2024, Romanian authorities confirmed. This occurred months before his banking information was utilised to purchase several of the companies and his identity used to register three of them at Companies House.
There is no reason to suspect he participated in any criminal enterprise, and numerous individuals on social media praised him as a decent person who assisted others within the industry.
Previous owners of several transport companies stated they had not dealt with Mr Calin, but rather with an individual called “Benny”. Who was this person?
Investigators located him through researching the director of Zus Transport listed in Companies House documentation, a Romanian woman. Information regarding her is limited, but investigators found a telephone number for her. Searching this number on WhatsApp revealed a profile photograph of a young woman, with a different name, inside a Lamborghini.
The profile photograph enabled investigators to identify her as a relation of Mr Calin, and the spouse of a man named Benjamin Mustata. Mr Mustata and his wife had posed for photographs when collecting a Lamborghini from a dealership in April, one week following the theft targeting Alison’s business.
When investigators showed images from social media of Mr Mustata to a former proprietor of one of the transport companies, he confirmed him as “Benny” – the individual he had met personally to negotiate the company’s sale.
A telephone number Mr Mustata used in 2023 to rent accommodation in Coventry was also utilised to arrange collection of the merchandise stolen by the subcontractors who defrauded Alison. The identical number had also been used by “Benny” to acquire one of the transport companies using Robert Calin’s name and banking information.
When investigators visited Mr Mustata’s address to deliver a letter containing questions about his suspected participation in the theft, they were informed he had relocated to Romania.
This was untrue. Investigators traced him to Coventry, where he was trading in luxury vehicles. Questioned about Zus Transport, Mr Mustata responded: “Go away.” He refuted using a deceased person’s identity to acquire haulage companies and using Zus Transport to steal merchandise.
He acknowledged purchasing Zus Transport, but claimed he did so representing a relative and was not controlling the company during the theft.
Mr Mustata stated that another party had been exploiting Zus Transport’s name on a subcontracting platform, and that they must have stolen the cargo.
“The company is registered in my address. My own address. I’m living there. How you think, yeah, I was doing things bad to my own address?” he questioned.
He stated the stolen cargo had “nothing” to do with him, adding: “It’s not my fault.”
Fraud lawyer Arun Chauhun examined the BBC’s discoveries and described the scheme targeting Alison as appearing “well set-up”, incorporating identity fraud and deceiving Companies House, the government agency that registers limited companies.
He stated he believed there was a “kind of malaise that businesses can afford to take the hit” because they possess insurance, but in reality crime such as this “damages individual lives, those people who own the businesses”.
Regarding whoever is ultimately responsible for the crime, Mr Chauhun stated: “I think they’re just thinking, well, the system’s never going to have the resource to catch up with us.”
Labour MP Rachel Taylor, who represents North Warwickshire and Bedworth where approximately one in five residents work in logistics, stated the BBC investigation “lays bare what I hear constantly from hauliers: that increasingly sophisticated crime gangs are having a huge impact on their businesses”.
She stated it had “gone unrecognised for too long”, and demanded a “joined up national policing strategy and more resources to tackle this issue, so we can put these organised criminals behind bars where they belong”.
Deputy Chief Constable Jayne Meir, the NPCC’s inaugural lead for freight crime, stated a new unit at Opal – a police intelligence service tackling organised acquisitive crime – would begin targeting the problem next year.
However, in the interim, business proprietors such as Alison state crimes like these have a “massive impact”.
“We’re going home at night and we’re not sleeping,” she states. “Haulage businesses don’t make a lot of money and it only takes something like this and you’re out of business.”
For professional advice on protecting your haulage and logistics operations from sophisticated organised crime threats, contact Assist Security Group (ASG).
“The freight and logistics sector faces unprecedented challenges from highly organised criminal networks,” says Jim McFedries, Chief Business Development Officer at ASG. “Our intelligence-led approach combines advanced threat monitoring, risk assessment and protective security measures specifically designed for the transport industry. We work with clients to identify vulnerabilities and implement robust, sustainable solutions that safeguard their operations, assets and commercial interests.”
Contact ASG: sales@assistsecurity.co.uk
