Cosmetics and perfumes by luxury fashion houses and cult brands are fail-safe presents and give retailers a festive sales boost each year. Therefore, before Christmas, and as shops prepared to sell millions of bottles of expensive fragrances and even more beauty products in the January sales, organised crime gangs targeted haulage drivers transporting high-value cosmetics along the UK’s motorway network. Alcohol, mobile phones, electrical items and clothing were among the desirable products snatched from lorries in transit or parked at service stations.
The total loss value of lorry and cargo thefts reached £102 million in 2024 — up from the £68 million recorded in the preceding 12 months. Investigators said four high-value thefts, which included a consignment of cosmetics worth £4 million, were partly responsible.
