Fake mailmen make off with €90,000 in Apple products, electronics
Fake postal workers using a stolen mail truck are believed to be behind two separate robberies of a second-hand electronics store in Nieuwegein.
The iUsed location was robbed twice in five days. "This is very bizarre", iUsed manager Jip van Asperen said to newspaper AD.
On Friday two people dressed as PostNL workers stole a large order of Apple devices directly from the store. The order, value estimated at around 20 thousand euros, was already packaged and waiting for the postal van to pick it up.
On Tuesday there was another robbery, though this one happened differently. Orders amounting to some 70 thousand euros of mostly apple products were already in the PostNL delivery van. "The PostNL driver, this time it was the real one, took a break after he picked up a number of packages from us. When he returned to the bus, it was empty. I do not know how this will be handled, the items were already out of our store." Van Speren said.
According to the manager, the two robberies at least affected different clients. The clients affected by Friday's robbery had their order hand delivered to them by iUsed on Tuesday. These affected by Tuesday's robbery will get their items a bit later than expected or will be refunded.
PostNL launched an investigation into the robberies. Spokesperson Jelleke van Rantwijk told the newspaper that this type of robbery is very rare. According to her, the PostNL vans are secure. She couldn't say how the packages were removed from the van on Tuesday. "It is particularly annoying that packages from the same company disappeared." She added that PostNL is also a victim in this crime.
