Thieves steal 12 tons of KitKat bars in Europe chocolate heist
Bars of KitKat
By Jack Guy, CNN
(CNN) — Thieves have stolen more than 400,000 KitKat chocolate bars weighing around 12 tons from a truck in Europe.
The confectionery, which is manufactured by Swiss firm Nestle, was stolen when the vehicle was distributing the bars along a route running from a factory in central Italy to Poland, KitKat said in a statement.
“The vehicle and its contents remain unaccounted for, and investigations are ongoing in close collaboration with local authorities and supply chain partners,” reads the statement.
A total of 413,793 KitKat bars were stolen, said the company. Each one is traceable using on-pack batch numbers, and KitKat has asked anyone who finds a match to alert the company.
The statement also cited a joint report from the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) and the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) EMEA, which concluded that cargo theft and freight fraud are on the rise and becoming more sophisticated.
“We’ve always encouraged people to have a break with KITKAT – but it seems thieves have taken the message too literally and made a break with more than 12 tonnes of our chocolate,” said a spokesperson in the statement.
“Whilst we appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes,” added the spokesperson.
In a statement posted on Instagram on Sunday, KitKat added that “there are no concerns for consumer safety, and supply is not affected.”
This is not the only massive chocolate heist to have taken place recently in Europe, with a British man sentenced to 18 months in jail in July 2023 for stealing 200,000 chocolate eggs.
Joby Pool stole thousands of dollars’ worth of Cadbury Creme Eggs after breaking into an industrial unit and making off with the haul in a stolen truck, the PA Media news agency reported at the time.
The milk chocolate eggs, filled with a “yolk” of yellow and white fondant, have a cult following in the UK and are sold around the Easter period.
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