The weirdest heists in history after thieves’ brazen KitKat lorry raid
Heists don’t always need to be as thrilling or glamorous as the cinematic versions in Ocean’s Eleven or The Italian Job suggest. While flashy gold and diamonds dominate headlines, other items—like chocolate bars—can also spark major crimes. Recent news has spotlighted a peculiar theft involving 413,793 KitKat chocolate bars stolen from a lorry en route from Nestlé’s factory in Perugia, Italy, to a Polish destination.
KitKat stated they had ‘chosen to go public with our own experience in the hope that it raises awareness of an increasingly common criminal trend.’
The theft of such a massive quantity of sweets might seem odd, but it’s far from unique. In 2023, during a particularly somber Easter, a similar incident occurred when 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs vanished from a Telford, Shropshire, warehouse. The culprit, Joby Pool, a 32-year-old from near Leeds, had used a tractor stolen in October to transport the eggs in February.
Going further back, the late 2010s saw a string of bizarre vehicle cargo thefts in Germany. In August 2017, a semi-trailer filled with 20 tons of Nutella and Kinder Surprise eggs disappeared from Neustadt. Among the stolen goods were thousands of plastic toys meant for children. That same weekend, another semi-trailer containing 30 tons of fruit juice was taken from Wittenburg, a town near Hamburg, more than 350 miles north.
But the most audacious theft occurred in January 2018 when two truck trailers holding 44 tons of chocolate were stolen from an industrial park in Freiburg. The scale of these crimes highlights how even everyday items can become targets in high-stakes heists.
Across the Atlantic, a different kind of theft unfolded in Wisconsin. In January 2016, police were alerted that wheels of parmesan cheese valued at $90,000 had been taken from a distributor. Just under two weeks later, they discovered the stolen cheese in a warehouse in Grand Chute, southwest of Green Bay. Meanwhile, another trailer with $70,000 worth of cheese had already been stolen from Germantown.
Back in London, a cheese firm named Neal’s Yard faced a deception in October 2024. They were contacted by individuals claiming to represent a major French retailer’s wholesale distributor. The scheme unraveled, leaving the company stranded and the cheesemakers who supplied their products to deliver the order.
Finally, the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion, once the first bug zoo in the US, became a case study in unusual theft. In August 2018, its founder, Dr. John Cambridge, arrived to find the tanks and shelves completely empty—thousands of live insects had been taken without a trace. The incident led to a four-part TV documentary and heated disputes among staff over responsibility.
These bizarre incidents remind us that crime can strike in the most unexpected ways, whether it’s chocolate bars, cheese, or living bugs. While the Easter holidays are traditionally a time for celebration, they’ve also become a backdrop for some of history’s strangest thefts.
