Fast & Furious-style heist sees €500,000 haul of iPhones stolen from moving truck on highway

In scenes lifted straight out of a Fast & Furious movie, thieves in the Netherlands have allegedly stolen €500,000 (£450,000) worth of iPhones from a moving truck.

Dutch police said five Romanian men were arrested after stealing the phones by driving a modified van so close to the truck that one was able to clamber out onto the bonnet and break into the truck as the van drove alongside.

The late-night highway heist then saw the man hand hundreds of iPhones to the van, before climbing back in and making an escape - all without stopping.

The men, aged between 33 and 43, were arrested by Dutch police at a luxury holiday park in Veluwe, central Netherlands on Saturday (29 July), where the police also recovered iPhones worth over half a million euros and a van which they believed was used in the theft.

The suspects are due to appear in court on Tuesday.

Dutch news site NLTimes reports how a gang performing similar thefts have been wanted by police for over two years, having stolen cargo from at least 17 trucks across Europe. Each of the thefts allegedly follows a similar technique of pulling alongside and breaking into the truck, then fleeing with the stolen goods without stopping.

It is also claimed the gang would draft in extra drivers to keep following traffic at bay while the theft took place. The thieves mostly targeted trucks carrying expensive electrical equipment, like smartphones.

According to NLTimes, thefts of cargo from trucks mid-journey are on the rise in the Netherlands. There were 136 such crimes in the first three months of 2017 alone, up 46% on the previous year.