Federal prosecutors say three men pulled off a violent hijacking of an Apple delivery truck outside a New York shopping center and escaped with more than a million dollars worth of iPhones, MacBooks, and other products.
The armed January robbery reportedly netted more than $1.2 million worth of stolen Apple products, including iPhone, MacBooks, iPads, Apple Watch, and accessories. Authorities described the robbery as a coordinated operation where suspects forced delivery workers into a truck at gunpoint before relocating the cargo to another vehicle.
The suspects were identified as Alan Christhofer Cedeno-Ferrer, Michael Mejia-Nunez, and Ennait Alexis Sirett-Padilla. Delivery workers unloading Apple merchandise outside the shopping center in Manhasset were intercepted by masked men armed with handguns.
A black Honda Accord pulled up beside the truck, and the men approached the victims before forcing them to a nearby location. One worker was restrained with zip ties in the back of the truck during the robbery.
Another worker was forced into the driver's seat and ordered to drive less than half a mile to a secluded parking area behind an office building. The suspects later confined both workers inside the cargo area while they transferred Apple products into a second vehicle.
Prosecutors describe a coordinated cargo theft operation
The robbery operation used a second truck staged for the merchandise transfer. Surveillance footage allegedly showed a Home Depot box truck following the hijacked Apple delivery vehicle to a nearby secondary location.
The suspects aligned the rear cargo compartments so they could quickly move Apple products between the trucks out of public view.
Once the transfer was complete, the suspects shut the cargo doors with the victims still inside and fled the scene. One worker later managed to free himself and call 911.
The defendants later pleaded not guilty in federal court. They were ordered held without bail pending trial.
Apple shipments remain attractive targets for organized theft rings
ABC News first reported the arrests and details of the alleged Apple delivery truck hijacking.
A single shipment headed to a busy Apple Store can contain hundreds of devices ready for immediate sale. Organized theft crews increasingly target consumer electronics shipments before products ever reach retail stores.
Investigators said the suspects used a second truck to move the stolen Apple products.Apple products have repeatedly been tied to large product heists because they carry high resale value in relatively compact packages.
Even with protections such as Activation Lock and device management systems, stolen Apple hardware can still retain value through unauthorized resale channels and parts harvesting operations.
The suspects also appeared to minimize visibility near the shopping center itself by relocating the truck to a quieter secondary site before transferring merchandise into another enclosed vehicle.
