MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Two truck drivers say their semis full of merchandise were stolen in Miami Gardens; they later found the big rigs sans cargo.
The truckers, from Sunny Isles Beach and Hallandale Beach, are now asking police to help them get their stolen trucks and trailers back.
Surveillance video shows one of the thefts in action.
Ghaleb Emachah says his truck and trailer full of lumber were stolen last Sunday around midnight. In his case, his truck had a GPS tracker in it.
It was later found in Hialeah, but without the thousands of dollars worth of lumber he had been hauling.
“They came and they stole these loads completely; they moved the truck to another location,” Emachah said. “It’s a very strange story. It’s kind of like a mafia job.”
Emachah said he called Miami Gardens police, who did an initial report and gave him a case number.
But since then he said hasn’t heard from police — and detectives won’t return his calls.
Emachah is not alone in having his truck taken.
“My neighbor had his truck stolen also and another friend also,” he said.
Thieves also took Elmir Kozin’s truck and trailer on a Sunday in June, also in Miami Gardens.
“I found it using an AirTag,” he said.
He said when he used GPS to track it down five miles away, his cargo gone and his trailer was hooked up to another semi.
When he called police, he said the thieves had put fake plates on the trailer so he wasn’t able to recover it; officers said they couldn’t help him get it back.
“The load was close to $40,000 and the trailer was close to another $45,000,” Kozin said.
With no insurance on the stolen goods and without the vehicles they need to do their jobs, the men say they are now struggling to make ends meet and they want police to help them get their stolen trucks and trailers back. Emachah has launched a GoFundMe page to help recuperate some of his losses.
“We’ve been pretty much doing the investigation on our own,” Emachah said.
Miami Gardens police told Local 10 News that the Florida Highway Patrol is now the agency investigating the case.
Local 10 News contacted FHP seeking comment Tuesday and has not heard back.