Reefers on the Run: Trailers with Over $200,000 of Beef Stolen, One Still Missing
Avoiding high prices of meat at the store, some have turned to finding beef through a less conventional route.
Reports of three semi-trailers loaded with beef were stolen in Grand Island, Neb. and may be linked to additional thefts across the state.
“It does not look like it was possible for a single person to conduct these thefts,” Grand Island Police Captain Jim Duering said in local news article. “Most likely it was a minimum of two people or more and then on top of that we have a similar thefts of meat products in other areas such as Colfax County and Omaha over the past several weeks that are probably related.”
Two stolen semi-tractors were used to steal three semi-trailers of beef. Duering assumes the thieves had done some surveillance to locate running reefer units specifically loaded with the high-priced commodity.
The Nebraska State Patrol located both tractors and two of the trailers near Grand Island, with both trailers empty, the article reports. The third trailer remains missing as of June 27.
Grand Island is home to a JBS USA packing plant with a harvesting capacity of 6,000 head per day. This facility also had a fire back in Sept. 2021.
Considering the cost of meat, a trailer full of meat could be worth $200,000 to $1 million, depending on the cut on the trailer at the time, Duering adds. The last missing trailer reportedly contains $232,666 worth of beef from JBS, the article states.
