Transport crime in Bielefeld and Germany

Transport crime is a broad and variable field of offence, covering both the locations of the offence and the perpetrators. The qualified economic detectives of Kurtz Investigations Bielefeld and East Westphalia provide court-usable investigations of transport thefts for affected companies. We operate throughout Germany and beyond the border at the request of our clients: +49 521 2567 0055.

Organised theft gangs and their internal accomplices

Bielefeld lies on the main connection Cologne–Dortmund–Hannover; the Federal Motorways 2 and 33 as well as the Federal Roads 61, 66 and 68 run through the city area. This traffic-favourable location allows rapid transport from Bielefeld into the Ruhr area, the Rhineland and northern Germany, as well as into the Benelux countries and Eastern Europe. With its many motorway service areas, however, the motorways are also the target of criminals who want to illegally appropriate transport goods. While 20 years ago it was smaller gangs who stopped transport vehicles at night with dramatic overtaking and braking manoeuvres to seize the load by force, today the offenders proceed more discreetly. For example, they lie in wait at service areas and wait until a driver falls asleep (helped by, for example, introducing via an open side window a hose with anaesthetic gas). While the driver is asleep, the load is stolen.

The investigation of such and other forms of transport theft belongs to the regular task portfolio of our experienced economic detective agency in Bielefeld. Our work focuses not only on searching for unknown perpetrators or already known gangs, but also on the transport drivers themselves, as experience shows these often work together with the thieves. For lump-sum bribes or a share of the spoils they pass on information to the offenders, for example when a particularly valuable consignment is being transported on which route with which vehicle, or actively and intentionally facilitate the theft. Regardless of the case constellation, our experienced detectives go to the bottom of the matter in order ideally to locate the stolen goods and have them seized for return to the owner. If you suffer damage please use our contact form or call us — we will gladly advise you without obligation about our investigative possibilities.

Prevention assistance by our Bielefeld corporate detective agency

In 2015 alone, around €14 billion in property damage arose Europe-wide from freight thefts (from warehouses and vehicles). Added to this in individual cases are reputation and image losses, which in the final consequence can have extent even higher than the monetary damages from the theft, since headlines about transport losses are hardly conducive to increasing order numbers for logistics companies. Accordingly, potentially vulnerable firms should strive to minimise the theft risk. This includes, among other things, reliability checks of current and potential employees in areas such as dispatch, warehouse, vehicle maintenance and of course delivery, as well as employee briefings to raise awareness and behaviour training and security facilities on the vehicles which reduce the risk of assault, better protect the driver and, in the case of damage, facilitate identification of the offenders.

Our IHK-certified detectives support you in protecting your transports according to TAPA standards, for example. GPS monitoring, silent alarm, door sensors and further security measures around the vehicles are effective preventive measures. Naturally this does not exclude transport crime, but the investigation of perpetrators becomes many times more effective. Our detective agency in Bielefeld will be happy to advise you in detail on the subject of transport crime and will draw up the optimal security concept for your purpose. Please send us an e-mail to kontakt@kurtz-detektei-bielefeld.de or call us at +49 521 2567 0055.