According to Transport Topics, federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York have filed a consolidated indictment against an Eastern European criminal network accused of orchestrating $10 million in cargo thefts across multiple states since March 23, 2023.
Multi-State Prosecution Targets International Ring
The case unifies charges against defendants arrested in California, Pennsylvania, Florida and New York into a single federal prosecution. Investigators allege the gang operated through coordinated deception: members posed as legitimate carriers, altered shipping information, disabled geolocation tracking devices, and redirected high-value freight en route. According to the June 30 indictment, at least one overseas dispatcher — identified as Bezhanian, an Armenian citizen believed to have resided in Eastern Europe during the crimes — directed U.S.-based facilitators on when and where a fraudulently obtained load should be picked up and where it should be delivered.
The FBI’s Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force led the investigation, which involved partners including the New York City Police Department, New Jersey State Police, Port Authority Police Department, Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The indictment names alleged participants from Russia (Araik Setrakian, Vagan Gulian, Sevak Kocharian), Ukraine (Vitaly Koshelan), India (Jashanpreet Singh) and the U.S. (Zhirayr Gumruyan, who holds Armenian citizenship, and Arkadiy Pastin).
Stolen Goods Span Electronics, Food and Luxury Items
The stolen cargo included cryptocurrency mining machines, consumer goods and food products. One theft involved $360,000 in whiskey destined for shipment from Texas to New Jersey; defendants allegedly met in a New Jersey warehouse to plan black-market sales of 8,000 bottles, and later sold 200 bottles in Brooklyn “for an amount far below the market price.”
Another incident targeted $114,000 worth of skincare and haircare products scheduled for transport from Ohio to California in May 2025 but diverted instead to warehouses in New Jersey and New York. Additional seizures included 23,400 eggs valued at $51,000 (Pennsylvania to Utah), $1.2 million in clothing (North Carolina to Ohio) and $300,000 in liqueur (New Jersey to Virginia).
Defendants reportedly exchanged electronic photos of bills of lading listing stolen merchandise alongside screenshots of public retail prices for those items — a tactic indicating systematic resale planning. James C. Barnacle Jr., FBI assistant director in charge of the N.Y. field office, stated the defendants were part of an international network
“to steal merchandise and resell these stolen goods at the direct expense of sellers, shippers and buyers.”
Source: Transport Topics
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
