ARCHIVED - Alicante delivery driver stole 250,000 euros of chocolate and sold it for 1200 euros
The man sold the cargo for only 1,200 euros before abandoning the 70,000-euro vehicle he was driving
A delivery driver who had only been employed for eight days has been detained in Callosa de Segura, in the province of Alicante, for stealing 12,000 kilos of chocolate worth around 250,000 euros before later selling the cargo off and dumping his truck in Cox.
The 36-year-old was contracted to pick up the chocolate made by a well-known brand in Germany and was assigned a transport vehicle worth over 70,000 euros. The man was supposed to deliver the goods in Elche but the chocolate never reached its destination, as the man sold the cargo to a third party for 1,200 euros.
The man, who has a criminal record, abandoned the truck in the municipality of Cox: the vehicle was discovered with the doors open, the keys in the ignition and completely empty, according to the police.
In addition to stealing 250,000 euros worth of merchandise, the man also scammed his employers out of a further 1,000 euros, claiming that the truck required maintenance and more fuel along the journey.
After looking at the truck’s GPS device, the police were able to track the man’s movements and saw that the vehicle had stopped at an industrial estate in the city of Alicante. The police suspected that this was the location of the merchandise and established a police control while the Policía Judicial entered one of the properties on the estate and found the cargo untouched. They then arrested the person responsible for the premises, who was later released after giving a statement at the police station.
Meanwhile, the investigators also found that the truck had deviated from its path to visit a company dedicated to buying and selling pallets, where the police were able to locate and recover 13 pallets that the suspect had sold.
After the chocolate thief was fully identified, police officers travelled to the municipality of Callosa de Segura in Alicante, where he was arrested on charges of misappropriation.