Law Enforcement Recover 350 Stolen Guns From UPS Heist Headed to Chicago

By John Crump

350 Guns Stolen From UPS Center In Memphis
350 Guns Stolen From UPS Center In Memphis

Midlothian, Illinois-(Ammoland.com)-Two men have stolen around 400 firearms from a UPS facility in Whitehaven, Tennessee on Sunday, September 30th, 2018, according to the ATF. Whitehaven is a neighborhood located in Memphis.

Thieves used a U-Haul truck in the heist of the firearms driving away with thousands of dollars in guns. This theft was one of the largest firearms thefts in US history. UPS immediately contact the ATF which dispatched agents to the scene of the crime.

The ATF asked the public for help in recovering the firearms and offered a $5,000 reward for information about the theft. UPS refused to comment on the incident citing their policy of not commenting on an open investigation.

On Tuesday morning police in Midlothian, Illinois spotted a suspicious U-Haul truck in a store parking lot. Upon investigation, two men in the truck ran from police. Officers pursued the suspects as other police officers investigated the U-Haul truck.

Upon opening the back of the truck, law enforcement officers discovered 350 of the stolen guns. It appears that these are some of the same firearms from the UPS theft.

Police were able to track down one suspect and take him into custody, but the other suspect is still at large. As of this writing, police are still trying to locate the second suspect.

Law enforcement officials are not stating publicly if the suspect in custody is one of the two men seen in security camera footage from the UPS facility.

The ATF do believe that the 350 firearms were on their way to Chicago. Agents are also looking into manifest to see how many guns are still missing.

ATF bureau spokesman Michael Knight said that the guns could present a danger to the safety of the public and first responders. The ATF is also not speculating if the theft was an inside job, or how the thieves knew where the guns were in the shipping facility.

“We are concerned that the firearms will end up on the streets not only potentially in the Memphis area but also across the country,” Knight said. “The criminal element knows no geographical boundary.”

When companies ship firearms through UPS, they do not mark the outside of the boxes for security purposes. The thieves knew where UPS were storing the guns.

The bureau is also not stating what type of firearms the suspects took in the theft. The Information to who shipped the guns and who was going to be the recipient of the firearms was not released, but local news outlets are reporting it was Ruger brand handguns in .22lr and .380

ATF Special Agent in Charge, Marcus Watson remarked, “ATF’s Crime Gun Intelligence will leverage investigative resources combined with the community partnerships to solve this violent criminal act.”

An ATF source familiar with the case, but not authorized to speak on the matter has informed AmmoLand the shipper was shipping guns to different cities and different companies.

It is unknown if authorities have recovered all the stolen firearms from the theft. It will take time to match serial numbers from the recovered guns to the shipping manifest.

Anyone with information about this crime should contact ATF at (800) ATF-Guns (1-800-283-4867) or the Memphis Police Department at (901) 528-2274.

Anyone with information can also submit a tip anonymously by using the Reportit® app, available from both Google Play and the Apple App store. The ATF has also made Reportit® available through the web at https://reportit.com/

About John CrumpJohn Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.

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Scotty Gunn

It is unknown if authorities have recovered all the stolen firearms from the theft.
law enforcement officers discovered 350 of the stolen guns.
Two men have stolen around 400 firearms from a UPS facility

It appears that ATF is math challenged.

American Patriot

Bu..Bu..But their Black, is it really a crime or is it just their nature? They were really good kids that just made a mistake boys will be boys. smack their hands & say don’t do that again & all’s forgiven.

Declan

Racism needs to end.

GregTorchia

Good luck with that /:start in your neighborhood first and then we will comply/it would Be nice if you people would stop playing the race card /is that the only card you have???Civilized people have been over this skin pigmentation thing years ago,,, but the heathens have to be Neanderthals ,,right to the bitter end-So that being said thank God for the second amendment which protects all of the others

American Patriot

It’s not racism…Just stating a fact. I’m really sick when ever a white man does something bad race is always singled out but when a black man does the same thing it is rarely mentioned. I’m tired of hearing about that “card” when ever somebody doesn’t like what someone else has to say. They have been a favored group for the last 30-40 yrs now, they can say what ever they want on prime time TV & it’s all good but, if a white man says the same words it’s racist? Racism in the country was fading until that half… Read more »

m.

not racism to identify the name, age, race, residence of any criminal. it is racist to hide the same information because it might encourage “bias”. if members of any racial or non-racial “group” are unhappy about disproportionate this-and-that, stop engaging in illegal activity & see what happens.

Tionico

Well, let’s face it. Rahmie Boy notwithstanding, Chicago WILL have her guns. Sad they prefer to have them in the hands of the bad guys, but such is the Progressive Way. One would think the surveilance footage from inside the UPS facilty would reveal the inside connection. There MUST be one. I’ve been around UPS facilities, and even though there is a LOT going on, to load four pallents into the back of a U Haul with a forklift, no one verifying BOL and Manifest, seems well nigh impossible without help. Watch, though.. this heist may well lead to heavily… Read more »

tomcat

According to our local newspaper a few days ago there were a thousand guns stolen but that was right after it happened so they didn’t have all the particulars. The ATF was called in to save the day and the hoods of Memphis. I doubt if all the guns were headed for Chicago because Memphis has their own crime problem…….City run by a democrat.

Taj

A number of years ago I worked for a major handgun manufacturer located (where else) in New England. I worked out west so all of my samples and armorer’s school guns had to be shipped to me. We used UPS for a long time, until guns started disappearing. Signature was always required, of course, on delivery. I had one set of armorer’s school guns that started showing up under the seats of 62 Chevys in a rough neighborhood about 20 miles from my place. Seems the driver still had some old gang associates and was forging my signature. This was… Read more »

willy d

Freight carriers do the same thing to catch employees of theft they will find out about unless it was another failed Fast and Furious gun runner By Obama and Emanuel, remember they had all of the numbers written down????

Boz

We need a law to make it a crime to steal multiple guns from a warehouse or railroad car. THAT will stop this from happening! (sarcasm)

SuperG

I think the investigation will yield that a female employed by UPS, supplied the critical data to her boyfriend, who then made the theft. I’ve watched this scenario time and again.

Timothy Votaw

My vote.

GregTorchia

It’s just too much TEMPTATION
for their simple minds /they still haven’t found all those Springfield Armory pistols that were taken out of railroad car in Chicago inside job I’ve never seen so many firearms in a city were firearms were illegal Its going to take the military to clean up this mess eventually light at the end of the tunne for innocent human beings

Notalima

This can’t be true. We are told, time and time again, that all Chicago’s gun problems come from Indiana.

Jim

So much for the “gun show loophole” that Rahm and his cronies like to complain about.

Buck Cassidy

Das rite! Das rite!! De truk an dem menzes Dribin dat truk pobly stopn negroenapolis an selz somin dim gunz soz daz gits som gas n chitlenz. Daz b hungry n stufs. C wut im sayn? Uz feel me¿

Dis b antonyo markez

Declan

Racism needs to end.

Buck Cassidy

I no dasrit. How u dodat

hillhunter

Agreed. Buck Cassidy’s comment isn’t cool. Pro gun doesn’t equal racist.

hillhunter

Don’t do that kind of stuff man. Makes us all look like low-brows. I know you’re probably not a racist but most pro-gun african americans would see it that way and thus alienate our own teammates. Pro gun people better stick together or we’ll end up like australia in short order.

John Galt

Who are atf’s”partners” in the community?

Wild Bill

@JG, professional snitches.

Rock

Makes you wonder if the other missing suspects name is Rahm Emanuel, or maybe Barrack Hussein Obama. Maybe this was to be Fast and Furious TWO. Or “ammo” for anti gun organizations. Naaa, just a fresh supply for the hood thugs in Chicago, murder capital of the nation, glad those ultra stringent gun laws (ONLY meant for the law abiding citizens) are working there… Typical Dem owned/operated state…

Dale A. Stambaugh

I think the Perps should be charged one count for each firearm they stole. (370 counts)

n.r.ringlee

So, if this is true, using Progressive legal logic Ruger would be civilly liable for any damage or harm done by anyone possessing one of these firearms. It matters not that they took reasonable care and followed long standing, lawful means to control the distribution of these guns. The fact that criminals stole them and subsequently put them in to the hands of criminals who do further criminal damage makes law abiding companies like Ruger liable. And of course should these guns fall in to the hands of gang bangers in Chicago it is the fault of the NRA and… Read more »

Tionico

UPS will be named in the liabilty lawsuit as well..THEY had control over them. Prolly git bustid fer handing out guns with no background checks done. Fed crime, you know……… (not that it SHOULD be…..) Oh, and they’d better name U Haul as well, THEY provided the truck that was used in the heist.

Gotta spread some blame around, ya know…

Dumbfounded

Definitely an inside job, soon a UPS employee will be charged.

hillhunter

Agreed. No doubt an inside job. I used to work at UPS and security is really tight, no way you’re stealing that much of anything and not have detailed inside info. When I was a loader at a hub employees were caught weekly trying to steal everything from candy to guns. UPS would tout the captures at the weekly debriefs, sometimes they even bait employees in hopes that they’ll catch you.

Ron

Good work!