An increasing trend is spreading across the country, as corporations and entrepreneurs start to view crime in more solution-orientated way. When vital information, stock or transportation are stolen or compromised by thieves or vandals, business owners are starting to see this in the same light as any other financial risks to their businesses. They are going to take the most effective action to regain their assets or to help their business function correctly with the least disruption possible. The most startling example of this recent phenomenon started with a rainy, windy night on the 15th of March 2007: White Stuff, a clothing company, was the victim of a theft from a lorry: robbed of a consignment of £500,000-worth of new-line stock. The incident occurred near the Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT). The Chief Executive of White Stuff wanted the stock back, and quickly. He didn't want his brand to be compromised by sales on the black market. What he wanted was results, and quickly, so he engaged Cerberus Investigations Ltd. to pursue the matter.
Immediately, Cerberus commenced investigations and gathered information from interviews with the freight agent, the haulier (and the driver himself), Warwickshire Police press office and officers at the Rugby station, DIRFT staff, and traffic control agencies in the area. This information and notice of a reward was disseminated through liaising with the local press. Information started to flood in.
When in late March and early April the clothing started appearing on eBay in the original packaging, still with the swing tickets and bar codes attached, White Stuff engaged the services of Cerberus' specialist eBay Investigations Team to gather information about the goods and sellers. Over the next three weeks Cerberus tracked the consignment and obtained the names and addresses of all the sellers. The goods were all based in or near Liverpool, Merseyside.
These details were supplied to the appropriate police departments and on the morning of May 16th eight warrants were successfully executed by the local constabularies in Liverpool North, Kirkby and Blackpool. A large number of items (roughly £50,000-worth) were retrieved, many in their original White Stuff container boxes from the HGV. In the following few weeks, Cerberus' eBay Investigations Team monitored eBay to ensure that any further stolen items were removed.
Cerberus had worked with three police forces, Warwickshire, Merseyside and Lancashire, and officers with the national intelligence agencies TruckPol and AVCIS, throughout April and May, and their information led directly to the recovery of the stolen goods. With results like this, soon every modern business entrepreneur will have a gum shoe watching his back.
