A truck driver in Southwest Philadelphia woke up early Tuesday to find strangers emptying his trailer of frozen snow crab about a ton and a half of it while he was still inside the cab.
Marty Muriuki, of Webster, Massachusetts, had parked his tractor-trailer overnight on the 3400 block of Island Avenue after failing to find a secure truck lot. He was waiting to deliver the load to a nearby seafood wholesaler and thought the spot looked safe. Around 4:57 a.m. on October 27, he felt the truck shake. Looking back, he saw roughly six men unloading boxes.
Muriuki exited the vehicle to try and halt them.
“Stop! That is enough. I do not want to get fired,”
He said he told the group in an interview with local television. One man reportedly offered to pay for the seafood. Another then attacked him. Muriuki fled toward the Residence Inn near by.
“I was not being a hero,”
He explained later, adding that nothing like this had ever happened during his 30 plus years of driving.
The thieves took two pallets holding approximately 100 boxes of frozen snow crab, each box weighing about 30 pounds, for a total of roughly 3,000 pounds. Other cargo stayed untouched. They fled in multiple vehicles that included a gray Ford F-150 and a gray Dodge Caravan.
Philadelphia police described at least two of the men: one about 5-foot-8, Hispanic, in all-black clothing, and another about 5-foot-6 and 180 pounds, Black, also in dark clothing. Some accounts noted masks. Southwest Detectives, under Captain Joseph Busa, are investigating. Officers recovered evidence at the scene and are seeking surveillance video. As of the latest reports, no arrests have been announced. Tips can go to 215-686-TIPS.
Busa told reporters it is too early to say whether the case ties to other recent food-cargo thefts in the city, including a March incident on Island Avenue involving about 500 pounds of snow crab and later thefts of frozen meat. Police have stressed that sleeping drivers waiting for morning deliveries remain easy targets when secure overnight parking is scarce.
The probe is ongoing. There are still concerns about what happened to the crab, if it was the same individuals that ran into other trucks, and how to get proper rest around the deliveries. In the meantime, there is yet another refrigerated truck missing on a Philadelphia street.
