Shipments of almonds, walnuts, and pistachios are being stolen in California(outsideonline.com)
outsideonline.com
Shipments of almonds, walnuts, and pistachios are being stolen in California
https://www.outsideonline.com/2186526/nut-job
61 comments
> But if they see a basement full of walnuts? They'd just close the door and move on
I mean, I think that'd at least lead to a casual question or two.
I mean, I think that'd at least lead to a casual question or two.
Likely dodge-able. One can, for example, play a nut "the world food supply chain is breaking up, GMOs are everywhere, etc. This makes me keep a few years' worth of calories in all natural foods close by."
Which leads me to my second favorite thing about nuts: calorie density! That shipment of nuts would have 327 million calories. Assuming you're 30, will live to 100, and eat 2,200 calories per day, you'll only consume 56 million calories in the rest of your life.
That shipment of nuts could be passed down in your survivalist family. First, it would be all the food you ate for the rest of your life. Then, your first child would be born and would start eating the nuts, continuously, until they died at 100 years old. They would have a child - your grandchild, and your grandchild would eat only nuts until THEY turned 100 and died (having a kid along the way.) Your grandchild's first kid would be born (your great-grandchild), start eating nuts the day they were born, have a kid, and die at 100. This final kid, your great-great-grandchild, would eat only nuts for their entire life, slowly whittling down the stockpile that lasted five generations. Eventually your great-great-grandchild would die in this basement, at the age of exactly one hundred years old like their ancestors, surrounded by the remnants of the one single truck of walnuts that their great-great-grandfather stole hundreds of years ago.
Nuts are insanely calorie dense. If you disaster-plan with a more conservative 80 year lifespan, are 30, and eat 2200 calories per day, you'll only consume about 6 metric tons of walnuts for the rest of your life. If you put that in peanut butter, which is (like walnuts) very calorie dense, you'd fit enough calories for the rest of your life into 5.5 cubic meters, roughly the size of a small bathroom.
(Not that the police officer would be likely to know the calorie density of walnuts, of course. Also, I love the pun.)
That shipment of nuts could be passed down in your survivalist family. First, it would be all the food you ate for the rest of your life. Then, your first child would be born and would start eating the nuts, continuously, until they died at 100 years old. They would have a child - your grandchild, and your grandchild would eat only nuts until THEY turned 100 and died (having a kid along the way.) Your grandchild's first kid would be born (your great-grandchild), start eating nuts the day they were born, have a kid, and die at 100. This final kid, your great-great-grandchild, would eat only nuts for their entire life, slowly whittling down the stockpile that lasted five generations. Eventually your great-great-grandchild would die in this basement, at the age of exactly one hundred years old like their ancestors, surrounded by the remnants of the one single truck of walnuts that their great-great-grandfather stole hundreds of years ago.
Nuts are insanely calorie dense. If you disaster-plan with a more conservative 80 year lifespan, are 30, and eat 2200 calories per day, you'll only consume about 6 metric tons of walnuts for the rest of your life. If you put that in peanut butter, which is (like walnuts) very calorie dense, you'd fit enough calories for the rest of your life into 5.5 cubic meters, roughly the size of a small bathroom.
(Not that the police officer would be likely to know the calorie density of walnuts, of course. Also, I love the pun.)
Nuts go rancid. Bad idea for a survivalist story.
http://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/234-2753.pdf
The almonds there last 10 months, long enough to grow and harvest some fruits/vegetables in a suitable climate.
Typical emergency preparedness guidelines suggest stocking food for maybe a week. What kind of scenarios are you preparing for?
Typical emergency preparedness guidelines suggest stocking food for maybe a week. What kind of scenarios are you preparing for?
I was following the parents fictional account that mentioned subsequent generations eating this shelles walnut stockpile.
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Just tell them you are transspecies and identify as a woodland squirrel.
50 metric tons would be an exceptional trailer. 15 is much more likely. To get to 50 metric tons, you're typically looking at something like this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=cozad+drop+side+deck+trailer...:
https://www.google.com/search?q=cozad+drop+side+deck+trailer...:
Huh, really? I would've bet on 50. Google tells me an 18-wheeler's max weight in the US is 80,000 lbs, or about 35 metric tons. That's substantially less than I'd expect to be honest. 35 metric tons isn't _that_ heavy, and I always thought of 18-wheelers as these massive behemoths of the road that carried villages worth of supplies.
Further reading shows that the US has uniquely low maximum weight limits, which results in containers that are legal under European laws arriving at US ports overweight. The UK for example has a maximum weight of 44 metric tons, and Canada (or at least some parts) have a maximum weight of 64 metric tons.
Do you know if trucks running at 44 (such as in the UK) use special trailers like those Cozad trailers?
Side note, while Googling truck things I found this gallery. http://www.cozadtrailers.com/en/gallery/ I highly encourage anyone reading this to take a look at it. I had no idea things that heavy could be moved on a truck trailer. One truck is moving an "Ocotillo Nacelle" at 350,000 pounds. Another is moving a SR-71 Blackbird.
Further reading shows that the US has uniquely low maximum weight limits, which results in containers that are legal under European laws arriving at US ports overweight. The UK for example has a maximum weight of 44 metric tons, and Canada (or at least some parts) have a maximum weight of 64 metric tons.
Do you know if trucks running at 44 (such as in the UK) use special trailers like those Cozad trailers?
Side note, while Googling truck things I found this gallery. http://www.cozadtrailers.com/en/gallery/ I highly encourage anyone reading this to take a look at it. I had no idea things that heavy could be moved on a truck trailer. One truck is moving an "Ocotillo Nacelle" at 350,000 pounds. Another is moving a SR-71 Blackbird.
> Do you know if trucks running at 44 (such as in the UK) use special trailers like those Cozad trailers?
They'd probably not look like that, but they would be different from the standard 53 foot, 8-tire, 2-axle trailer. Maybe the same box dimensions and height, but with 3 axles. Possibly double chained 20ft trailers with 2 axles each. Once you go over container shipping weight thresholds (which might be 44T like you say), you stop seeing box trucks.
The cosad trailers are amazing for their weight capacity, but typically used for heavy machinery and are designed with low floors which heavily constrains how they distribute the weight (and thus the tiered chains of 9-tire per axle bogies). There are other designs out there, but that trailer was just what I searched for because they're from my hometown and I used to be a truck driver.
They'd probably not look like that, but they would be different from the standard 53 foot, 8-tire, 2-axle trailer. Maybe the same box dimensions and height, but with 3 axles. Possibly double chained 20ft trailers with 2 axles each. Once you go over container shipping weight thresholds (which might be 44T like you say), you stop seeing box trucks.
The cosad trailers are amazing for their weight capacity, but typically used for heavy machinery and are designed with low floors which heavily constrains how they distribute the weight (and thus the tiered chains of 9-tire per axle bogies). There are other designs out there, but that trailer was just what I searched for because they're from my hometown and I used to be a truck driver.
> I always thought of 18-wheelers as these massive behemoths of the road that carried villages worth of supplies.
Well, it's probably carrying a village's worth of nuts...
Well, it's probably carrying a village's worth of nuts...
Reminds me of the illegal oil trade. Once you mix the good with the bad and put it on the market, who can tell the difference.
Better yet, other than the farmer that's stolen from, who would actually care?
Better yet, other than the farmer that's stolen from, who would actually care?
...the Crain theft, along with similar heists in 2011 and 2012, ... were committed by people who appeared to understand the trucking business, identity theft, and computer security.
Pretty much the textbook example of an organized crime operation.
Pretty much the textbook example of an organized crime operation.
Meh, not necessarily. I used to be a truck driver (paid my way through college), and I know computer security well enough to execute some basic hacks, and I've read quite a bit about identity theft due to suspicion of an attempt made against me. I wouldn't say the right set of skills in a single person is common, but it certainly isn't so uncommon that it doesn't exist.
The bigger clue that it is origanized is that they've stolen 370,000 lbs of it. That is a huge amount of warehousing and movement...no way it could be done by one person. I'd be willing to bet they're working with a mid-size walnut farmer or distributor who can "launder" the stolen goods fairly easily into something that can be wholesaled without being obviously tracked.
The curious thing for me is that the trucks haven't been recovered. If I were doing this, I'd drop the trucks off at the side of a country road in the middle of nowhere. You can't really scam your way through a quick cash sale of a stolen tractor like you can with a Honda Accord, and driving it off to Mexico to be chopped adds a lot of risk to what seems like a relatively low risk operation.
The bigger clue that it is origanized is that they've stolen 370,000 lbs of it. That is a huge amount of warehousing and movement...no way it could be done by one person. I'd be willing to bet they're working with a mid-size walnut farmer or distributor who can "launder" the stolen goods fairly easily into something that can be wholesaled without being obviously tracked.
The curious thing for me is that the trucks haven't been recovered. If I were doing this, I'd drop the trucks off at the side of a country road in the middle of nowhere. You can't really scam your way through a quick cash sale of a stolen tractor like you can with a Honda Accord, and driving it off to Mexico to be chopped adds a lot of risk to what seems like a relatively low risk operation.
What are the odds they just drive a truck full of nuts to Mexico?
According to https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop12015/ch2.htm there is random inspection on the US side for theft and then random customs in Mexico. Prior to the US starting theft inspections, an insider on the Mexico side would make it work pretty well.
Another possibility is faking the identification and paperwork when picking up a shipment. Disappearing a fake truck is probably easier than disappearing a real one.
According to https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop12015/ch2.htm there is random inspection on the US side for theft and then random customs in Mexico. Prior to the US starting theft inspections, an insider on the Mexico side would make it work pretty well.
Another possibility is faking the identification and paperwork when picking up a shipment. Disappearing a fake truck is probably easier than disappearing a real one.
> What are the odds they just drive a truck full of nuts to Mexico?
Not very likely, but certainly possible. I don't see the advantage though (could exist, but I just can't think of it). I've never seen US theft enforcement and Mexico doesn't have border controls like the US, but they do have traffic stop inspections and lead-based enforcement. Any box trailer can get stopped at any time and asked for customs documents and manifests. If you stay just within the Central Valley, you'll likely never get stopped, unless you're visibly overweight. And I'm not sure the market is there in Mexico...you'd probably end up re-exporting to the US where the documentation from the origin would have the same problem (how do we make it look like we grew this instead of stole it?).
Not very likely, but certainly possible. I don't see the advantage though (could exist, but I just can't think of it). I've never seen US theft enforcement and Mexico doesn't have border controls like the US, but they do have traffic stop inspections and lead-based enforcement. Any box trailer can get stopped at any time and asked for customs documents and manifests. If you stay just within the Central Valley, you'll likely never get stopped, unless you're visibly overweight. And I'm not sure the market is there in Mexico...you'd probably end up re-exporting to the US where the documentation from the origin would have the same problem (how do we make it look like we grew this instead of stole it?).
and because our criminal justice system is principally concerned with entrapping and prosecuting "TERRORISM!!111!!" cases, we don't get the manpower on these kinds of things, which persist across the states. So sad.
With help from an insider?
I know someone who grows and processes walnuts. They own everything, the land, picked and cultivated the trees, bought equipment, hired workers, some on temporary (seasonal basis) some permanent. Apparently shelled and sorted high quality walnuts are pretty expensive and a good profit maker. Especially in the EU market. Or at least they were more expensive than I'd expect.
When they said how much a truck full of packaged shelled walnuts is worth, I also surprised they are not sending guards with those trucks.
When they said how much a truck full of packaged shelled walnuts is worth, I also surprised they are not sending guards with those trucks.
Yes, a truck load of nuts is worth millions.
And it may be easy to steal. But it also takes a whole truck to run away with the loot.
And it may be easy to steal. But it also takes a whole truck to run away with the loot.
And you need someone to unload it to (pun a little intended). I'm not sure how big the shelled nuts market is, they might know each other .
Interesting insight, though.
Interesting insight, though.
"Boudreaux said nut theft had outstripped drug crime as his top priority and promised an aggressive investigation."
Looking on the bright side, at least the police actually have something useful to do for a change. Great article, BTW.
Looking on the bright side, at least the police actually have something useful to do for a change. Great article, BTW.
They have plenty to do pretty much all the time. But priority usually goes to the flashy cases (that would make the department look good/bad) or revenue collection (writing tickets etc.). http://www.copblock.org/1250/police-and-priorities/
>Several counties even ban the sale of nuts before harvest is complete, to discourage black-market sales.
Wouldn't that create a black-market for people who want the nuts before harvest?
Wouldn't that create a black-market for people who want the nuts before harvest?
Yeah this confused me as well. If they didn't ban it, then it wouldn't be illegal, and thus not a black market but just a 'market'
I think the idea is that it means that anyone selling before the harvest is doing so illegally, and the nuts are maybe stolen, because they couldn't be on the market legitimately. So if you were caught selling, you'd be subject to arrest. If there were no ban, it would be easier to fence stolen nuts.
I think it also prevents crimes of opportunity, since you'd have to hold on to the nuts until you could legally sell them.
So if you went to somebodies farm in the middle of the night and loaded up a semi, you'd have to stash that semi somewhere for a month rather that selling it the next day.
For a more urban example I live in a city and there are scrappers who driver around in pickup trucks all over. It is commonly known that some will steal things made out of metal from your yard unless it's bolted down. They also steal copper wire from building sites, etc.
Now generally by the time someone notices that the scrap is missing the person has already turned in their scrap for money. And if the police figure out who did it and where they took it, the evidence has already been shredded and mixed with similar metals.
If you had to hold on to scrap for a month before you could sell it, you'd be way more likely to catch people red handed.
So if you went to somebodies farm in the middle of the night and loaded up a semi, you'd have to stash that semi somewhere for a month rather that selling it the next day.
For a more urban example I live in a city and there are scrappers who driver around in pickup trucks all over. It is commonly known that some will steal things made out of metal from your yard unless it's bolted down. They also steal copper wire from building sites, etc.
Now generally by the time someone notices that the scrap is missing the person has already turned in their scrap for money. And if the police figure out who did it and where they took it, the evidence has already been shredded and mixed with similar metals.
If you had to hold on to scrap for a month before you could sell it, you'd be way more likely to catch people red handed.
A relatively homogenous, high-value good with minimal security controls? I'm honestly surprised that theft wasn't a problem long before this.
Probably the average criminal just didn't think of nuts as being particularly valuable (even though they clearly are).
Wasn't there a case in Canada a few years back where someone stole a huge amount of maple syrup? That stuff is pretty pricey, too.
Edit: yep, $18 million worth. They were caught, eventually.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/01/27/men-convicted...
Wasn't there a case in Canada a few years back where someone stole a huge amount of maple syrup? That stuff is pretty pricey, too.
Edit: yep, $18 million worth. They were caught, eventually.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/01/27/men-convicted...
And a few years ago theft of the laundry detergent Tide became a big thing.[1][2]
You wouldn't think of that as a high theft risk commodity either.
[1] http://nymag.com/news/features/tide-detergent-drugs-2013-1/ [2] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/why-are...
You wouldn't think of that as a high theft risk commodity either.
[1] http://nymag.com/news/features/tide-detergent-drugs-2013-1/ [2] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/why-are...
Hard to off load 18 million of maple syrup.
Right, the natural barrier to a lot of these crimes is the difficulty of unloading that much product on the black market without attracting attention.
No, the hard part with Maple syrup is that there normally are only a handful of suppliers from some very limited regions. It's very hard to suddenly appear out of nowhere as a major seller of Maple syrup without any history to go with it.
That's why they suspect organized criminal groups--to get rid of large quantities, you need your own distribution channel. One guy working by himself isn't going to have that.
Organized crime won't have much problem, you mix it with other goods of the same type and offload them over a period of time.
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It's really hard to run away with a valuable quantity of nuts though.
> he discovered that one person of interest in the case had cosigned a loan to a Los Angeles County official worth $5 million.
Neat. Default on loan payments, cosigner picks up the tab.
Are the IRS on to this sort of stuff?
Neat. Default on loan payments, cosigner picks up the tab.
Are the IRS on to this sort of stuff?
Wisconsin has also had issue with cheese thefts in recent years:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/thieves-46-000-worth-c...
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wisconsin-thieves-swipe-...
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/thieves-46-000-worth-c...
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wisconsin-thieves-swipe-...
Once autonomous trucking becomes ubiquitous, how often will these vehicles get hacked to just deliver their shipments to the criminal's warehouse directly? "Disrupting" organized crime by cutting out the middleman!
Redirecting the truck seems unlikely, but dropping a couple traffic cones in front of one in the middle of nowhere and calmly unloading it with no driver to hassle you will be a lot easier.
I actually don't expect this to be a big problem. You'd have to subvert multiple systems, on the truck and in the cloud, to make sure they don't get tracked right back to the criminals immediately.
Possible? Yes. Large-scale? Unlikely.
Possible? Yes. Large-scale? Unlikely.
This was a surprisingly amazing lunchtime read. Very interesting and nut theft? Never thought something like that would fall into organised crime, this was a real eye opener!
This reminds me of some bandits in my region that used to aim Saffron shipments and storages. Saffron usually costs more than 30/gram in a shop.
With $0.5MM shipments going out wouldn't it be wise to bury some satellite trackers in the containers?
> When I visited Horizon, Squire told me that one processor, concerned about publicity, tried hiding GPS trackers in its shipments instead of calling the police. The company still lost two loads to thieves.
GPS, cellular, and satellite M2M is trivially jammed (<$100$).
brain food so why not!!
Interesting story.
Great web page design, I was able to read without a box popping up asking me to subscribe (which was available on the bottom of the page). No video ads.
Great web page design, I was able to read without a box popping up asking me to subscribe (which was available on the bottom of the page). No video ads.
Outside magazine has a lot of very high quality long form articles. I ended up subscribing to them since they do not nag, and produce a great product. I want to support sites like theirs.
Oh how the bar for "great web design" has fallen.
Maybe this is an explanation for how the 45th president lost his nuts.
> In California, millions of dollars' worth of almonds, walnuts, and pistachios are disappearing.
That's a lot of nuts!
That's a lot of nuts!
This whole story is nuts
$750,000 is a lot of money for a truck full of nuts. Even if you just skim 13%, that's a hundred thousand dollars. If you're selling consumer electronics, you attract attention. If the police see your car full of iPhones, or if they open a basement and find thousands of iPhones, that's suspicious. But if they see a basement full of walnuts? They'd just close the door and move on. Nobody suspects walnuts to be stolen unless you're actively looking for them. It's not as if the walnut farm can blacklist the walnuts' IMEI or something either. Just go around to a bunch of small, independent grocers and ask if they want to buy $2000 of walnuts for half the usual price.
Or, even more brilliantly, start an online walnut selling business. Grocers might turn you in for your obviously stolen nuts, but some random Internet walnut buyer? I'm someone who eats a lot of nuts and I have no idea how I'd even check if my nuts were stolen. What am I gonna do, call them? "Hello, do you sell stolen walnuts?" "Nope" "Ok thanks!"