{"id":126899,"date":"2026-03-18T11:36:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/900235865"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:36:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:36:25","slug":"man-stole-lorry-trailer-from-freight-depot-packed-with-a35000-worth-of-alcohol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/man-stole-lorry-trailer-from-freight-depot-packed-with-a35000-worth-of-alcohol\/","title":{"rendered":"Man stole lorry trailer from freight depot packed with \u00c2\u00a335,000 worth of alcohol"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

David Southall, 48, and two unknown accomplices stole the cargo after they cut through a fence at a freight depot off Oxwich Road in Newport.\n<\/p>\n

The defendant was arrested some 60 miles away on the M5 near Worcester after a pursuit involving a helicopter and a stinger being placed on the road.\n<\/p>\n

The thieves had \u201cscouted out\u201d their target before arriving in their own truck and attaching the trailer to it.\n<\/p>\n

They struck at around 8.20pm on Sunday, February 8 with Southall being arrested around an hour later bound for Walsall in the West Midlands.\n<\/p>\n

Alex Orndal, prosecuting, said: \u201cWhen he was arrested, the defendant told the police, \u2018I\u2019ve done this before.\u2019\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe added that he had been acting under duress because of a drug debt.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Southall wouldn\u2019t name names when he was asked who he owed the money to.\n<\/p>\n

Cardiff Crown Court heard that stealing lorry trailers is a \u201cvery profitable\u201d multi-million pound racket for organised crime gangs in the UK.\n<\/p>\n

It is considered a \u201clow risk, high reward\u201d type of offending.\n<\/p>\n

The defendant, from Walsall, but whose address was given in court as Ystrad Mynach police station, pleaded guilty to burglary.\n<\/p>\n

He has five previous convictions for 10 offences, including aggravated vehicle taking and possession of a bladed article in public.\n<\/p>\n

Southhall, represented by Dan Jones, had taken steps to beat his addiction since being remanded in custody for more than five weeks and was now drug free, it was heard.\n<\/p>\n

Judge Vanessa Francis told the defendant: \u201cThis was a sophisticated operation and you played an important part in making it work.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He was jailed for 12 months with the sentence suspended for 18 months.\n<\/p>\n

Southall must carry out 50 hours of unpaid work and complete a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement.\n<\/p>\n

The defendant was made the subject of a six-month drug rehabilitation activity requirement and has to pay a victim surcharge.\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… accomplices stole the cargo<\/span> after they cut through a fence at a freight<\/span> depot off …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}