a trucking company.  Interested parties on these cargo or intermediaries whose regular motor carrier is unavailable for a particular job will hire the sham operation.  The fly-by-night operator may hold the cargo hostage and demand a large sum of money to release it, or the criminal may sell the merchandise.

The FBI revealed that cargo crime is a multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise in the U.S. and this organization has setup seven task forces located around the country to combat this problem.  In the Memphis region the theft task force reported that there is an average of one cargo crime a day in the year from January 2011 to September 2011 and they have recovered more than USD$1.5 million in stolen cargoes and vehicles (Conrade, 2012).  Some of these syndicates are so organized that each member has their own specialty, from the break-in expert who can steal a rig in seconds to professional drivers, surveillance experts and the guys who know how to defeat the specialized devices that lock trailers. Conrad (2012) agreed that thieves often rob warehouses on a Friday night and by the time the crime is discovered and reported on Monday morning, the stolen goods may already be on a store shelf or auctioned online.  Cargo crime is sophisticated and is becoming an organized enterprise.

2.8 Cargo Security Preventive Measures

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 had tremendous impact on international trade policy and this incident have changed the landscape of security worldwide.  USA was the first country to introduce cargo security initiatives to prevent cargo theft and monitor the cargo entering into USA.  European Union and other international organizations also began to take preventive measures and established new security programs in order to secured cargo movement across borders.  Some of the programs implemented are Custom Trade Partnership against Terrorism (CTPAT), Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) and many other initiatives.  The United States Custom and Border Protection (US CBP) believed that international trade must work together in trade facilitation.  The intention of United States Custom Border Protection within the supply chain security program is to initiate the CTPAT which was introduced to secure global supply chains with strict measures taken in order to protect all the cargoes entering United States.  The United States government introduced CTPAT as a voluntary program between the authority and the businesses