Key Takeaways
- Six men allegedly stole 3,000 pounds of frozen snow crab from a Philadelphia tractor-trailer while driver Marty Muriuki slept in the cab.
- Muriuki tried to stop the crew, but one suspect chased him away as the thieves loaded two pallets into multiple getaway vehicles.
- Police have announced no arrests, and the heist follows a separate Philadelphia cargo-theft ring that stole more than $1.5 million in goods, including crab legs and 2.3 million dimes.
Philadelphia has another crab leg caper on its hands. Six men allegedly stole 3,000 pounds of frozen snow crab from a tractor-trailer in the early morning hours of Tuesday, October 27—while the driver was sleeping inside the cab. The thieves escaped with two full pallets of seafood, adding another audacious score to the city’s growing list of cargo heists.
According to 6 ABC Action News, the theft unfolded around 4 a.m. in the 3600 block of Island Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. Truck driver Marty Muriuki woke up after realizing men were behind his semi, unloading cases he was supposed to deliver. He told police he saw six suspects transferring the crab legs into a pickup truck.
Muriuki got out and tried to stop them, warning that the stolen shipment could cost him his job. The appeal did not slow the operation. “The other guys were taking the merchandise out, so they could get it, and then I told them, ‘Hey, stop! That’s enough! I don’t want to lose my job,’” he said.
One suspect allegedly offered to pay him. Another chased him down the street.
“All of a sudden one guy charging on me, so I have to run from that corner all the way to the Residence Inn,” Muriuki said. With the driver forced away from his truck, the crew finished loading the seafood and scattered in multiple vehicles.
Police identified a gray Ford F-150 and a gray Dodge Caravan among the getaway vehicles. The two pallets of 30-pound boxes contained approximately 3,000 pounds of crab legs.
Muriuki has spent more than 30 years behind the wheel and said he had never been caught in a cargo robbery before. No arrests have been announced, and Southwest Detectives are still investigating. Police have not identified a possible buyer for the frozen haul or said whether this latest robbery is connected to any broader cargo-theft operation.
But Philadelphia has seen this play before—right down to the stolen crab legs. In September, Haneef “Lew” Palmer was sentenced to 121 months in federal prison for his central role in a separate ring that stole more than $1.5 million in cargo from tractor-trailers.
Between January and July 2023, Palmer and his co-conspirators targeted trucks carrying frozen crab legs, televisions, commercial refrigerators, and other merchandise, often striking while trailers were unattended or their drivers slept.
That crew also pulled off Philadelphia’s infamous “coin caper,” stealing approximately $230,000—or 2.3 million—in dimes from a tractor-trailer carrying coins from the U.S. Mint.
Its crimes turned violent when Palmer and others attacked and injured a driver during the robbery of a refrigerator shipment.
Palmer, a former childhood friend and associate of Meek Mill, was ordered to pay more than $1.08 million in restitution. The two had reportedly been estranged for years.
