Florida Man Steals Entire Container Of Colombia-Bound Samsung Smartphones Worth $1.2 Million USD, Sends Bags Of Sand Instead

A cargo handler working at the Miami International Airport was arrested last Sunday after a cargo container full of Samsung phones that were headed to Bogotá, Colombia was stolen, the phones swapped out and replaced with sandbags. Before sending the pilfered container on to its destination.

Eduardo Miguel Rivera-Paz, a 37-year-old man who worked at a DHL facility for Worldwide Flight Services, was arrested after he was suspected of stealing over $1.2 million worth of Samsung mobile phones from the shipment identified as “AAX 9568” that was headed to Colombia.

The crime was first discovered when the shipment arrived in Colombia, and an official from DHL Express found that that the cell phones were replaced with sandbags that weighed around the same as the phones themselves. The subsequent police investigation led them to the video footage from the warehouse.

The warehouse footage showed Rivera-Paz being near the aluminum box containing the phones and taking pictures and videos of the box containing the phones before leaving and coming back to the container with another man who has yet to be identified by the police, who later loaded the box into a forklift and to another container.

Neither Samsung nor DHL Express, who was the company handling the mobile phone shipment, has commented on the crime at this time.

It is also unclear as of press time if the phones that were stolen have been recovered. The police have also not publicly commented yet on whether they have captured Rivera’s accomplice.

Rivera-Paz was arrested and charged with grand theft and theft of merchandise worth more than $50,000, and a public defender has been assigned to defend his case. He is currently being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with a $300,000 bond. His attorney has not made a public statement on his behalf as of press time.