PHILADELPHIA — Police in Philadelphia are investigating after thieves broke into a truck and stole more than 3,000 pounds of frozen snow crab.
Police said that the incident occurred in southwest Philadelphia at approximately 4:57 a.m. ET on Tuesday, WCAU reported. The driver, Marty Muriuki, of Webster, Massachusetts, was sleeping in a cargo truck parked along a road. He told the television station he was awakened by a commotion in the back of the truck.
“As I was dreaming, I felt the shaking and I wake up and I think ‘Uh oh, I have some company’,” Muriuki said. “And, I look back and I saw four, five cars.”
The driver then exited the vehicle to confront the thieves, but, officials said, he was chased away from the vehicle.
“I find out real quick, I’m in the wrong place,” Muriuki told WCAU. “I was not trying to be a hero.”
3,000 pounds of frozen snow crab stolen from truck in Southwest Philly overnight https://t.co/IYMLoGouiy
— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) October 27, 2026
Muriuki told police that he saw six men loading the cases into a pickup truck, WPVI reported.
“The other guys were taking the merchandise out, so they were able to get the merchandise and then I told them, ‘Hey, stop! That’s enough! I don’t want to lose my job.’ And then I find out real quick I was on the wrong place,” Muriuki told the television station. “One guy said, ‘We’ll pay you,’ and then all of a sudden one guy (was) charging on me so I have to run from that corner all the way to the Resident Inn.”
The thieves drove off with two pallets of the seafood, containing 50 boxes weighing 30 pounds apiece, WPVI reported. The left the area in several vehicle, including a gray Ford F-150 and a gray Dodge Caravan, police told WTFX.
Muriuki, who said he has been driving trucks for more than 30 years, told WPVI that it was the first time his truck had been ransacked.
An investigation is ongoing, police said.
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