PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Authorities have arrested three men they say were trying to steal thousands of dollars worth of beef in Philadelphia’s Holmesburg neighborhood.
Douglas Mathis, Jamir Scott, and Tariq Duncan are being held on $200,000 bail. All three face charges of corrupt organizations, theft, and related offenses.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry says the men were taken into custody on Tuesday as they tried to take 1,600 lbs. of beef from the back of a tractor trailer.
Authorities say the three men were wearing masks and dressed entirely in black when they were seen breaking the tractor-trailer’s lock and loading $7,000 worth of beef into their vehicle near Edmund Street and Bleigh Avenue.
Henry says the investigation, called “Operation Beef Bandit,” involved not only Philadelphia police, but also the New Jersey State Police and agents of the Office of the Attorney General.
This is the latest of several cargo thefts that have happened throughout the area this year.
In July, $15,000 worth of beef was stolen from a truck in South Philadelphia. And on Sept. 15, New Jersey State Police arrested four Philadelphia men as they attempted to break into a truck at a New Jersey Turnpike rest stop.