Drivers disable GPS tracking and steal 50 million liters of crude

[razaldo]

Quote

Police in Rajasthan. India have cracked a criminal syndicate accused of smuggling more than 50 million litres of crude oil inside water tankers from India's largest onshore oilfield, an official said.

The theft at the Cairn India oilfield went undetected for nearly six years until police in Rajasthan arrested 25 people this week for involvement in the sophisticated smuggling network.

More than 75 people, many drivers and contractors working at the oilfield, are still wanted in connection with the heists, said district police chief Gangandeep Singla.

"The company suspected something fishy was happening and complained to us, and during investigations we found this was an organised ring," he told AFP.

He said the drivers were authorised to carry water -- a byproduct in oil exploration -- from exploration sites for dumping but some of the tankers were filled with crude instead.

The drivers were disabling their GPS devices to avoid tracking and detection. More than 30 trucks have been seized, with numbers likely to grow, police said.

 

So a group of drivers in India ran this racket for nearly 6 years. Above is a snippet from the original article, that can be found here.

 

What is interested me is:

1. How did the drivers disable the GPS? From what I have researched these GPS trackers are fitted in the chassis or engine bay. So how easy / difficult is it to disable them?

2. I am assuming that there was a software tracking the trucks as well - surprised that it did not show up any warnings when the GPS went offline

 

 

And lastly, a point I would like to get inputs and thoughts on:

3. What other alternatives exist for tracking such vehicles?

 

By the way they made off with nearly USD 800,000  USD 8 million worth of crude!

Edited July 24, 2017 by razaldo
Math skill level 999

[That_PC_Kid]

Just imagine the setup you could have with $800,000.

[zMeul]

9 minutes ago, That_PC_Kid said:

Just imagine the setup you could have with $800,000.

an iPhone 8

 

800k USD in 6y divided by 25 people ... that's just bad business -  that's 5333$/y/person  oh wait ... they were at least 75 people involved

Edited July 24, 2017 by zMeul

[mr moose]

Um, is it just me or is $800,000 for 6 years work between 75 people not worth the risk? especially when you can only sell it to refineries.

 

EDIT: by my calculation that is only $10,666.66 each for 6 years criminal activity.

[KuJoe]

Only $800,000 after 6 years? Split that between the 100+ people involved and you're looking at less than $1333 per person per year. What a waste of time!

[Changis]

2 minutes ago, razaldo said:

 

So a group of drivers in India ran this racket for nearly 6 years. Above is a snippet from the original article, that can be found here.

 

What is interested me is:

1. How did the drivers disable the GPS? From what I have researched these GPS trackers are fitted in the chassis or engine bay. So how easy / difficult is it to disable them?

2. I am assuming that there was a software tracking the trucks as well - surprised that it did not show up any warnings when the GPS went offline

 

 

And lastly, a point I would like to get inputs and thoughts on:

3. What other alternatives exist for tracking such vehicles?

 

By the way they made off with nearly USD 800,000 worth of crude!

1: my guess is they just covered it in something like tinfoil or similar to deter the signal.

2: this might just be default operations.. sometimes you are in a valley with high mountains on wither side or tunnels etc where gps or modem looses signal.. signal loss on gps, as well as data connection to a server would happen often, so not having any warnings makes sense.. it most likely uses gps and logging, but that means they have to check or even have logs. maybe they bribed the ones responsible for that? i would think such a big operation has a few insiders..

3: radio waves can be used, but is less accurate and has a range.. i don't think 100% vehicle tracking is possible in all scenarios yet.. some places may not have cell service, some places may have such a limited view of the sky that gps won't work, other than that, i'm not sure what you can use to have realtime tracking.
best thing would probably be gps logging and going through the logs to see if they are consistent with pickup and delivery.. follow the vehicle on its route a couple of times to generate a baseline of the time it should take, then compare driving times.. this is all assuming that location data is not available.. 

[razaldo]

2 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

Only $800,000 after 6 years? Split that between the 100+ people involved and you're looking at less than $1333 per person per year. What a waste of time!

 

3 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Um, is it just me or is $800,000 for 6 years work between 75 people not worth the risk? especially when you can only sell it to refineries.

 

EDIT: by my calculation that is only $10,666.66 each for 6 years criminal activity.

 

True - did not think about that.

 

However, in India truck drivers earn around USD 500 per month (and this is on the higher side). So USD 1,333 would still be two and a half month worth of salary for them. Consider it like an annual bonus

[KuJoe]

Just now, razaldo said:

True - did not think about that.

 

However, in India truck drivers earn around USD 500 per month (and this is on the higher side). So USD 1,333 would still be two and a half month worth of salary for them. Consider it like an annual bonus

Not even close to worth it.

[razaldo]

1 minute ago, Changis said:

3: radio waves can be used, but is less accurate and has a range.. i don't think 100% vehicle tracking is possible in all scenarios yet.. some places may not have cell service, some places may have such a limited view of the sky that gps won't work, other than that, i'm not sure what you can use to have realtime tracking.
best thing would probably be gps logging and going through the logs to see if they are consistent with pickup and delivery.. follow the vehicle on its route a couple of times to generate a baseline of the time it should take, then compare driving times.. this is all assuming that location data is not available.. 

 

How about RFID tags? These would have to be installed on the expected path / track at a set distance. This might how ever involve a lot more money than GPS tracking

 

I know companies use them to keep track of important documents that enter / leave the premise 

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, razaldo said:

 

 

True - did not think about that.

 

However, in India truck drivers earn around USD 500 per month (and this is on the higher side). So USD 1,333 would still be two and a half month worth of salary for them. Consider it like an annual bonus

So 6 years criminal work for 2 months pay?  They must be desperate for something.  

 

Mind you I have to admit, I live in a first world country where even the unemployed get $700 a month, So it's easy to dismiss something without fully appreciating what else might be going on behind the scenes.

[leadeater]

4 minutes ago, razaldo said:

 

How about RFID tags? These would have to be installed on the expected path / track at a set distance. This might how ever involve a lot more money than GPS tracking

 

I know companies use them to keep track of important documents that enter / leave the premise 

RFID plus weigh stations on exit to flag trucks heavier than they should be, I'm sure a truck full of water has a measurable difference to oil so the weight needs to match the RFID shipping information. Then check on the other end, if oil don't make it flag it.

[KuJoe]

Just now, mr moose said:

So 6 years criminal work for 2 months pay?  They must be desperate for something.  

 

Mind you I have to admit, I live in a first world country where even the unemployed get $700 a month, So it's easy to dismiss something without fully appreciating what else might be going on behind the scenes.

If $500 a month is a lot of money, would you risk a good job for an extra 2 months pay a year? Let's put this into perspective for you and I: would you steal $20,000 per year from your $120,000 a year job? Would you go to jail for $20,000? Also keep in mind that even if these people don't go to jail, the chances of them being able to work as truck drivers anywhere is slim so now they have to find another, most likely significantly lower paid, job that they aren't skilled in.

[razaldo]

3 minutes ago, mr moose said:

So 6 years criminal work for 2 months pay?  They must be desperate for something.  

 

Mind you I have to admit, I live in a first world country where even the unemployed get $700 a month, So it's easy to dismiss something without fully appreciating what else might be going on behind the scenes.

Two months pay each year

 

And USD 500 is on the higher side. 

 

But yes, it is a lot of trouble for the money they are getting - maybe the cops have not estimated the actual amount they have stolen, which could be a possibility

 

Thing is, even with all this technology brought in place to keep track of the vehicles to prevent theft, it still seems relatively easy to disable them

 

I do agree with the point made by @Changis - 100% tracking is not possible always, especially in areas with limited GPS coverage

 

That's why am interested in seeing everyone's thoughts on other alternatives

[Changis]

1 minute ago, razaldo said:

 

How about RFID tags? These would have to be installed on the expected path / track at a set distance. This might how ever involve a lot more money than GPS tracking

 

I know companies use them to keep track of important documents that enter / leave the premise 

this would work in theory, but it's basically the same as with radio waves.. you have to have sensors everywhere along the route, and do maintenance to make sure they are always working.. this will most likely be way more expensive than just plopping in a gps tracker in your cars..

you could have rfid on departure and arrival and use the time between each to compare to actual driving times (if someone is consistently 30+ minutes late, you'll have good reason to investigate) but gps tracking does the same thing and logs can be more detailed.
you can also tell if there is a signal drop from the gps in an area, then drive there yourself and test the signal.. if you get a good signal, it's most likely being tampered with..

other than building some tracking infrastructure (like rfid sensors etc) or spending a $h1t ton of money on a tracking system, i don't think you'll find much better alternatives than gps tracking.. though it does require someone to actually follow up on the details provided from gps and driving records

 

[razaldo]

3 minutes ago, leadeater said:

RFID plus weigh stations on exit to flag trucks heavier than they should be, I'm sure a truck full of water has a measurable difference to oil so the weight needs to match the RFID shipping information. Then check on the other end, if oil don't make it flag it.

The weight of the container can be manipulated using something else / filling up the container with rocks what not

 

Is it possible to track the viscosity? So that way if water is replaced with any other fluid it would be identified immediately

[Changis]

2 minutes ago, leadeater said:

RFID plus weigh stations on exit to flag trucks heavier than they should be, I'm sure a truck full of water has a measurable difference to oil so the weight needs to match the RFID shipping information. Then check on the other end, if oil don't make it flag it.

or the cheap method of going on top and lowering a stick into the tank.. if its mostly water, you'll see it, they could also be adding weights to the truck somehow to increase the weight to fool the scales (say screwing some lead weights under the truck)

I also think you could use timing based tracking, say it takes 30 minutes to drive from pickup to delivery, if a driver consistently uses 10-15 minutes longer, it should be investigated..

[leadeater]

5 minutes ago, razaldo said:

The weight of the container can be manipulated using something else / filling up the container with rocks what not

 

Is it possible to track the viscosity? So that way if water is replaced with any other fluid it would be identified immediately

True but could be very hard to pull off depending on tolerances in filling and the actual difference in weight of water vs oil if high enough. If you know how much went in to the truck, that needs to be computerized, and you know the weight of the truck the only unknown variable is the weight of the driver.

 

If you're driving out with 'water' you'll be massively over weight no matter what. In theory. 

[leadeater]

2 minutes ago, Changis said:

or the cheap method of going on top and lowering a stick into the tank.. if its mostly water, you'll see it, they could also be adding weights to the truck somehow to increase the weight to fool the scales (say screwing some lead weights under the truck)

Clear tanks so you can just look 

[razaldo]

Just now, leadeater said:

Clear tanks so you can just look 

Or just stick a print out of water below the cover

[Changis]

Just now, leadeater said:

True but could be very hard to pull of depending on tolerances in filling and the actual difference in weight of water vs oil if high enough. If you know how much went in to the truck, that needs to be computerized, and you know the weight of the truck the only unknown variable is the weight of the driver.

 

If you're driving out with 'water' you'll be massively over weight no matter what. In theory. 

that's true, but that would mean installing pretty expensive weights on each site if there aren't weights already at those places, gps tracking and proper followup of driving logs and any suspicious events should be enough..

[Changis]

3 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Clear tanks so you can just look 

color dyes  edit: and thickening agents

[leadeater]

2 minutes ago, Changis said:

color dyes

All 'water' trucks drive through a wall of fire to get out 

[Changis]

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

All 'water' trucks drive through a wall of fire to get out 

seems legit

 

[mr moose]

21 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

If $500 a month is a lot of money, would you risk a good job for an extra 2 months pay a year? Let's put this into perspective for you and I: would you steal $20,000 per year from your $120,000 a year job? Would you go to jail for $20,000? Also keep in mind that even if these people don't go to jail, the chances of them being able to work as truck drivers anywhere is slim so now they have to find another, most likely significantly lower paid, job that they aren't skilled in.

 

20 minutes ago, razaldo said:

Two months pay each year

 

And USD 500 is on the higher side. 

 

But yes, it is a lot of trouble for the money they are getting - maybe the cops have not estimated the actual amount they have stolen, which could be a possibility

 

Thing is, even with all this technology brought in place to keep track of the vehicles to prevent theft, it still seems relatively easy to disable them

 

I do agree with the point made by @Changis - 100% tracking is not possible always, especially in areas with limited GPS coverage

 

That's why am interested in seeing everyone's thoughts on other alternatives

 

 

I was more thinking maybe they aren't getting any money for it, those truck drivers could be victims of blackmail.  In other words, drive the trucks the way we tell you or your family dies!

[KuJoe]

Just now, mr moose said:

I was more thinking maybe they aren't getting any money for it, those truck drivers could be victims of blackmail.  In other words, drive the trucks the way we tell you or your family dies!

For $800k?