The weirdest heists in history after thieves’ brazen KitKat lorry raid
The weirdest heists in history after thieves’ brazen KitKat lorry raid
While cinematic heists often feature high-stakes gold or diamonds, real-world crimes can be just as unusual. From chocolate bars to cheese wheels, the thefts of the past decade reveal a world where the most mundane items become targets of audacious schemes.
KitKat’s 413,793-bar heist
Recently, a group of criminals orchestrated a daring theft of over 400,000 KitKat bars from a lorry en route between Perugia, Italy, and Poland. The stolen cargo included a full 12 tons of chocolate-covered wafers from Nestlé’s latest Formula One collection. In a surprisingly lighthearted response, KitKat shared a statement expressing hope that the incident would highlight a growing trend in criminal activity.
‘We chose to go public with our experience in the hope it raises awareness of an increasingly common criminal trend,’ the company noted.
European chocolate disappearances
Turning back the clock, the late 2010s saw a string of bizarre cargo thefts across Germany. In August 2017, thieves spirited away 20 tons of Nutella and Kinder Surprise eggs from Neustadt, along with thousands of build-your-own plastic toys. A week later, another semi-trailer with 30 tons of fruit juice vanished in Wittenburg, near Hamburg. However, these paled in comparison to a January 2018 crime in Freiburg, where two truck trailers totaling 44 tons of chocolate were stolen from an industrial park.
Cheese heists in the US and UK
Across the Atlantic, cheese became a prime target in 2016. Police in Marshfield, Wisconsin, discovered that $90,000 worth of parmesan had been stolen from a distributor. Two weeks later, they found the missing cheese in a warehouse in Grand Chute, south-west of Green Bay. Meanwhile, in 2024, London-based Neal’s Yard faced a fraud scandal when a fake distributor from France claimed an order for 950 wheels of cheddar—22 tons in total, valued at around £300,000—leaving the cheesemakers to cover the loss.
The insectarium’s odd theft
Even the Philadelphia Insectarium, once a pioneering bug zoo in the US, became the scene of a peculiar crime. In August 2018, its tanks and display cases were emptied, leaving thousands of live insects missing. The incident led to a four-part TV documentary and heated debates among staff about responsibility. Earlier in 2023, the museum’s name was also linked to a theft of 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs from an industrial unit in Telford, Shropshire, involving a tractor stolen by Joby Pool from near Leeds.
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