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Police: Thieves stole roughly $200K in dimes from tractor-trailer

Thieves stole about $200,000 worth of dimes from a tractor-trailer that was parked in a Philadelphia Walmart parking lot.
Officers investigating theft of approximately $200K worth of dimes in Philadelphia
Posted at 2:14 PM, Apr 14, 2023

Police in Philadelphia are searching for the individuals who stole an estimated $200,000 worth of dimes from a tractor-trailer. That's about 2 million individual dimes. 

The police department said officers responded to a "theft in progress" call on Thursday at around 6 a.m. 

The dispatcher was told that a group of 10 or more people were stealing from the trailer. When officers arrived at the scene, they reportedly noticed that the rear doors of the trailer were unlocked and dimes were scattered all over the Walmart parking lot where it had been parked. 

"The scene was secured and Northeast Detectives was notified and notifications to SWAT, crime scene, and additional police personnel were made," the police department stated. 

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The driver was notified and reportedly said he had parked the vehicle so he could rest before continuing on his route to Florida.

While the theft of dimes may sound out of the ordinary, police told Philadelphia TV station KYW that tractor-trailers have been targeted in the past.

"There's been a lot of cargo thefts in northeast and south Philly over the summer months.  We've had lambs, chicken, TVs, refrigerators taken," said Capt. John Ryan of the Philadelphia Police Department. 

It's unclear whether the latest theft is connected to previous break-ins. 

Investigators are searching for a Chrysler 300 and a dark-colored pickup that were seen in the area around the time of the theft.