$1.5 Million Worth of iPad Minis Stolen from Airport Warehouse

The New York Post reports that thieves managed to steal $1.5 million worth of iPad minis from a warehouse at Kennedy Airport in New York City on Monday night. The heist, which appears to have been an inside job, netted the criminals two pallets containing 3,600 iPad minis.

The crooks arrived at Building 261 around 11 p.m. in a white tractor trailer marked with the name CEVA on the side, according to the sources. They pulled up to the side of the airport building that faces onto a street and has less security than the other side, which is accessible from the airport tarmac.

Sources believe someone let them into the area and then let them out after they grabbed the iPads.

They grabbed about 3,600 of the minis that were being shipped by a company called Cargo Airport Services, which said the iPads had just arrived from China and were destined for locations around the US.

Three other pallets were left behind when the thieves fled after being approached by a warehouse worker.

The report does not specifically identify which types of iPad minis were stolen in the heist, but with pre-orders of the new cellular-capable models on their way to customers over the next several days, it seems possible that the units were LTE models in the process of being distributed for launch-day sales.

Related roundup: iPad mini 3

Top Rated Comments

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kwiiboy

30 months ago

Nice iPad Mini box.

Rating: 16 Votes

rmatthewware

30 months ago

So if someone offers you iPads from their trunk, these might actually be real for once, rather than a brick.

Rating: 15 Votes

ck2875

30 months ago

Apple really lost out more because now they have to reship $1.5 million worth of iPad minis to customers who are now not getting it.

I imagine the shipping company will be the one financially responsible.

Rating: 13 Votes

toby00001

30 months ago

Found them...

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/syd/3411166095.html

Rating: 12 Votes

bacaramac

30 months ago

So for any of you who had delivery dates this week and it has now moved to next week, we know what happened. Haha

Rating: 9 Votes

Shrink

30 months ago

And the Goodfellas strike again. (For all you movie buffs;))

The hell with the Lufthansa theft...this is big! :eek:

Rating: 7 Votes

bacaramac

30 months ago

Actually, I think Apple has insurance, so there is no loss, only delivery delays.

I assume it's not Apple's insurance. I would think the shipping company has full insurance and responsibility for this. Apple doesn't own the shipping companies, they contract out that work.

Rating: 7 Votes

frayne182

30 months ago

Wow no idea the iPad mini looks like my iPhone 5.

Time to start checking Craigslist in New York for some deals

Rating: 6 Votes

GoCubsGo

30 months ago

Apple is definitely not good at

- securing products in apple stores
- securing products when leaving factories
- securing delivery dates

This is not Apple's fault. Are you kidding me that you truly think Apple should have prevented something from being stolen from JFK?

Rating: 5 Votes

reden

30 months ago

Yeah it sucks for Apple, but we are talking about like a 750k-1M loss for a company that has billions in the bank. We are also talking about small group of iPad Minis. If they sold 3 M units opening weekend we are talking about 0.1% of their pre-orders so it isn't going to be a major constraint on their supply by any means.

Actually, I think Apple has insurance, so there is no loss, only delivery delays.

Rating: 4 Votes

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