How digitally savvy theft has invaded trucking [Video]

One day last spring, Peel police Det. Mark Haywood executed a search warrant on a property west of Toronto and found a semi-trailer loaded with snowmobiles.

“Seeing an entire container full of brand new Ski-Doos valued at, like, $24,000 (each) — that’s a pretty good recovery for our unit,” said Haywood, who heads the force’s cargo theft team.

Part of a sweeping joint investigation called Project Big Rig, the operation resulted in the arrest of 15 suspects and recovery of 28 trailers stocked with $7 million worth of items ranging from chicken to televisions to Sleeman beer.

“Cargo theft definitely is on the rise,” Haywood said in an interview.

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The spike in freight crime comes in lockstep with a ramp-up of more sophisticated, digitally savvy tactics that revolve around identity theft and drain the …