back to article Cops seek clues to $1.7m tablet snatch

Thieves made away with $1.7m worth of RIM BlackBerry PlayBook tablets last week in Chesterfield, Indiana. The 7in tablets were being taken to Ontario, Canada from a warehouse and distribution facility in Plainfield, Indiana, local police said. The 22 pallets of kit were in the back of a lorry owned by Brightpoint, a company …

COMMENTS

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  1. Hardcastle the ancient

    That'll help cut inventory.

    1. JeevesMkII

      suspiciously helpful, those crims

      Yeah, considering how hard it is to get rid of Playbooks by any other means, I'd suggest the police take a look at this insurance fraud angle.

  2. Ommerson
    Go

    Parallels

    It strikes me that there are definite parallels between this theft and the Northern Bank raid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Bank_robbery) in Northern Ireland.

    After the Northern Bank raid, the thieves were left with a van-load of cash that was practically worthless.

  3. Pete the not so great
    Joke

    someone stole 1.7m playbooks?

    Bet they can't sell them on

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That old chestnut eh?

    The "high Value" goods were being driven from site to site. The driver pulls over for a "rest" and and hour later, it is gone. The lorry convenently had no traking and they have vanished with out a trace.

    Cue insurance claim for high value goods...Nudge Nudge, say no more.

  5. mark 63 Silver badge
    WTF?

    bit of a funny market for a trucking company to aim at?

    "a company that provides logistics services to the wireless industry."

    Got wireless stuff? need it moving? call Brightpoint!

    "Hello brightpoint? Can you move all these PC's upstate?"

    "are they wireless?"

    "no"

    "well no , we dont move wired stuff, sorry"

    1. Peter Gordon

      Brightpoint offer much needed work

      for lorry drivers suffering from a crippling fear of network cabling.

  6. Arrrggghh-otron

    Street value?

    Was that the police estimate of street value?

    I'd estimate about £20k unless the thieves install Cyanogen mod!

  7. tmTM
    Trollface

    Only way

    RIM were ever going to shift them.

    HP must be kicking themselves to have not thought of this ruse.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ontario, Canada

    Being RIM's HQ of course. So maybe these were returns?

    How convenient!

  9. JeffyPooh
    Pint

    $1.7M,or perhaps $678k

    The "$1.7M" demands further explanation. Is that figure based on the regular retail price of $499+ each, or the current sale price of $199+ each, or the actual build cost somewhere between the two?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      5200 tablets

      Other reports were saying a total of 5200 playbooks were stolen, valuing each at around $327.

  10. Julian Taylor
    Thumb Down

    Wow, luck they renewed their theft insurance in time. It's a bad sign when even the rioters last August wouldn't touch your product.

  11. b166er

    Yeah, good luck with that insurance claim.

    $1.7m in goods and no tracker, I reckon the insurance company will just chuckle.

  12. David Haworth

    best news for RIM yet!

    claim on insurance, call them all sold, your bottom line has improved already!

  13. Peter Simpson 1
    Pirate

    Lacked tracking tech?

    Company short of cash? Check. Insurance scam.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    (cough)insurance fraud(cough)

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    $1.70 worth more like..

    Really have RIM resorted to pay for gangs to steal them to ditch inventory.

    Just unlock the bootloader so we can load Android on them if you are that desperate....

  16. dct

    In other news: RIM report a dramatic increase in their playbook user base...

  17. Allan 1
    FAIL

    I recon the thieves thought they were stealing iPads or Galaxy Tabs, and have now dumped them all in a landfill somewhere.

    1. Giles Jones Gold badge

      They'll never be short of a tea tray in that house.

  18. Giles Jones Gold badge

    They actually stand a chance of selling at £10 a pop.

  19. John McCallum

    Tracker

    Hmmm they could not have known what was onboard or they would have waited for the UPS or Fed Ex truck.As for tracker that is the first question the Insurance Co. will ask,from personal experience of having a bike stolen.

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