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Published in Washington, D.C. 5am -- July 9, 1999
Mexican hijackers get $10 billion haul from U.S.
By Jennifer Arend
DALLAS MORNING NEWSIn one year's time, Mexican hijackers have stolen $10 billion in truck cargo from U.S. businesses.
The highway hijackings are turning into logistical barriers to trade even as more and more U.S. companies expand into Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trade between the two countries runs some $157 billion annually.
One U.S. manufacturer lost so many shipments of running shoes that it now puts left-foot sneakers in one semitrailer and their right-foot mates in another.
Another major manufacturer allows for two hijackings per month in its operating budget. The two companies did not wish to be identified for security reasons.
"[The hijackings] defeat the whole spirit of NAFTA," says Ted Rekerdres, president of Rekerdres & Sons Insurance in Dallas. Over the past year, he has cataloged shippers and their cargo losses using an Internet database called the Transport Blacklist.
Truckers regularly swap horror stories about holdups: Machine-gun-toting bandits disguised as police officers will order a driver out of a rig, tie him to a tree and take off with the cargo.
Loosely knit crime organizations commit many of the thefts and move their contraband via large, sophisticated syndicates with worldwide connections, says Gail Toth, who heads loss prevention for the American Trucking Association in Alexandria, Va.
Stolen goods are shipped as far away as to Singapore. "It's getting epidemic now," says Brett Anderhub, vice president of Rekerdres.
Some insurance and security experts are convinced that Mexican authorities are colluding with the thieves.
Police officers south of the border look the other way when they see Nikes selling for $20, probably because many Mexicans depend on the contraband to earn a living, says one Mexico City insurance adjuster who speaks on condition of anonymity for fear of police reprisal. "If you take it all away, where does the economy go?" he asks.
Some security experts say many truck drivers work with the pirates.
"There's driver complicity in the vast majority of truck hijackings," says Pete Palmer, the director of Problem Solvers, a security consulting firm in Mexico City. "This is a crime that could be done away with."
Pre-employment screening is key to stopping cargo theft because many of the crimes are inside jobs, says Tom Sheets, director of corporate security services for Palo Alto, Calif.-based CNF Transportation.
"Many people have a firm grip on denial and won't admit to the fact [that cargo theft happens]," he says.
Because of the complicity among some truck drivers, there's a limit to what can be done to prevent cargo theft. But authorities do not keep detailed records of all truck hijackings, which they could do with little extra expense.
"There's no good way to get a grip on the totality of numbers because nobody keeps the records," Mr. Palmer says.
Government officials in Mexico did not return phone calls, but security experts in the United States say the crimes are hard to track because cargo theft can fall into several categories.
"Cargo theft can be any one of 21 potential crimes," says Miss Toth, explaining that it could be listed as a property crime, vehicle theft, or even assault and battery, depending on the nature of the incident.
Shippers also must bridge a cultural gulf, says Russell Roberts, professor of economics at Washington University in St. Louis. "You have to learn the rules, learn the political system," he says.
Truck drivers and shippers don't want to be bothered with the paperwork, says Albert Zapanta, president of the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce in Washington.
While demand for stolen goods like Levi's jeans and Calvin Klein perfume increases in the underground economy, legitimate businesses and the government suffer a corresponding loss in revenue, says Ed Badolato, chairman of the Washington-based National Cargo Security Council.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/ Tribune Business News.