PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — A truck driver who spoke exclusively with Action News said he snapped photos of thieves who police said stole $40,000 worth of meat from his truck Tuesday morning.

Police said three males broke into the back of the trailer just before 4 a.m. along the 2800 block of Southampton Road in Northeast Philadelphia.

“We are scared because there are like four or five people here. It was three cars,” the truck driver said.

The driver spoke only with Action News but did not want to be identified.

“In my life, the first time this happened and it was shocking,” the driver said.

He said he drove from Wisconsin and stopped in Northeast Philadelphia Monday night to sleep, like other truckers do in that area.

But then he felt the truck shaking at around 3:45 a.m.

“He interrupted the thefts, and they fled. Stole about five pallets of meat worth $40,000.” said Philadelphia police Capt. John Ryan of Northeast Detectives.

Police are looking for three vehicles the suspects loaded the meat into, including two Ford Fusions and a black SUV.

“We believe it’s the same or similar groups involved. We’ve made arrests in the past,” Ryan said.

These investigations have crossed state lines with the arrest of four Philadelphia men during what police called “Operation Beef Bandit.”

The men were connected to several meat thefts at New Jersey rest stops and in Philadelphia.

“We’ve had groups in Philly doing this probably since COVID, doing cargo thefts,” Ryan said.

Just two weeks ago, police said four suspects broke the hinges off the back of a trailer and got away with a pallet of beef along 3rd Street in South Philadelphia.

A group of thieves targeted a tractor-trailer filled with beef in a South Philadelphia heist.

Investigators said they aren’t entirely sure where the meat is going.

“Clearly there’s a market for this,” Ryan said.

They’re encouraging companies to at least use better locks before yet another driver falls victim.

Police said they’re still working to determine whether the most recent thefts are connected.

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