An investigation is underway after someone broke into a truck trailer and made off with as much as $200,000 in dimes.
Per a report from KYW-TV in Philadelphia, the seemingly cumbersome theft in question was discovered early Thursday. Local police say the unattended trailer was broken into, allegedly with bolt cutters, while it was stationed overnight in a Walmart parking lot.
While initial reports saw police estimating that roughly $100,000 in dimes had been taken from the parked tractor trailer, that estimate—per a separate report from regional outlet WPVI-TV—was later altered to be as high as $200,000 in dimes, i.e. as much as two million individual coins.
“That’s a lot of labor involved too, moving that amount of weight,” Captain John Ryan of the Philadelphia Police Department told reporters.
The truck in question had made a stop to pick up the coins in the Old City area earlier this week, with the driver leaving the trailer in the Walmart parking lot while he slept ahead of the continuation of his trek down to Florida. At the time of this writing, police had not publicly indicated any updates regarding a suspect. The investigation is believed to remain in progress.
“There’s been a lot of cargo thefts here and there in northeast Philly and south Philadelphia over the ensuing months where we’ve had lamb, chicken, TVS, refrigerators, etc. taken,” Ryan told reporters, adding that alcohol has also been targeted in such thefts.
Complex has reached out to the Philadelphia Police Department for additional comment. This story may be updated.