Officials say fake shipping ring hacked data to steal $5 million in meat, cheese, cigarettes

Leonard Greene, New York Daily News on Jun 4, 2026

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NEW YORK — A sophisticated theft ring used hacked data, fake trucking logs and bogus shipping information to steal nearly $5 million in goods from retailers across the Northeast to sell in New York City, officials said.

The retail theft ring targeted logistics sites in Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey. They stole everything from cigarettes to frozen lamb, putting it on trucks with pilfered travel labels for transport to New York City, where it was sold on the black market, according to court records.

Cheese, steak, copper and cigarettes were just some of the items loaded onto trucks and hauled across state lines in the shipping scheme carried out between Oct. 2025 and April 2026.

“These defendants operated a wide-ranging and brazen, multimillion-dollar interstate retail theft conspiracy that impacted businesses and consumers around the country,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who announced the indictment, said in a statement.

“We believe that many small businesses were harmed by this theft, some of which may not be able to recover from their financial losses.”

Bragg said the eight people arrested ran an enterprise that impersonated legitimate shipping carriers, coordinating with others who conducted phishing scams to hack and steal shipment information.

Officials said the ring used that information to bid on jobs and contract with shipping brokers hired to move products for large manufacturers.

The scammers would allegedly lease tractor-trailer trucks and affix the names and registration numbers of real shipping carriers that were supposed to make the pickups. They would then drive to the logistics center, pick up the goods and coordinate further shipment into and through Manhattan, officials said.

“From steaks to cheese to cigarettes, these defendants were running a veritable supermarket of stolen goods,” Port Authority Chief Security Officer Greg Ehrie said in a statement.

“A theft ring this sophisticated, one that used hacked data to impersonate shipping companies and intercept cargo, doesn’t get dismantled without serious coordination across multiple levels of law enforcement.”

Arrested were Murodullo Khasanov, Nodir Kobilov, Shavkatbek Mamadjanov, Rakhmiddin Abdullaev, Aleksey Vorobyev, Nizom Ismoilov, Doston Mardoev and Dilshod Nabiev.

They faced charges including conspiracy, grand larceny and possession of stolen property.

The defendants allegedly committed six thefts and stole $165,000 worth of lamb; $432,000 worth of cheese; $295,000 worth of beef; more than $266,000 worth of copper; and more than $3.3 million worth of cigarettes.

The stolen beef was intended for Aurora, Colo., but was instead diverted and transported to New York City. The cigarettes were intended for customers in Tennessee and Florida. The frozen lamb was meant for Minnesota and Wyoming but the ring rerouted it to the Bronx.

The more than 25,000 pounds of stolen cheese — including Parmesan, Pecorino and Manchego — was originally bound for Georgia, but wound up in New York City, prosecutors said.

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