Thieves raid pharmaceutical warehouse in Brazil

Thieves made off with around $3m-worth of pharmaceutical from a warehouse in the Campinas area of Sao Paulo state in Brazil earlier this month.

A gang comprised of between 10 and 15 criminals raided the unit operated by freight company PLK Log in Chácara Campos dos Amarais, loading a sizeable number of unidentified pharmaceutical products onto three box trucks over a period of around seven hours.

The lone security guard at the facility was overpowered and locked in a bathroom while the raid took place, and there were no security cameras at the site, according to local press reports. 

Freightwatch International's most recent report on the Brazilian market notes that Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro accounted for more than 80 per cent of cargo theft activity last year - with 8,510 and 5,889 incidents respectively.

Theft of goods from warehouses and in transit is on the rise across the entire country and the use of violence by criminals is also on the rise, it says. The most stolen product categories are food/drinks; cigarettes; electronics; pharmaceuticals; metals; chemicals; textiles; auto/parts; and fuel.