A truck with precious cargo is incapacitated after it collides with another vehicle carrying masked robbers. The robbers use teargas and knives to immobilize the drivers before making off with a shipment worth nearly 400,000 Euros.
The robbery might sound like a scene from a Tony Scott movie or a mission in the yet-to-be-released Grand Theft Auto 5 but, sadly, the aforementioned robbery was just one of two events that occurred over the weekend in France – where hardcore heisters made off with around 780,000 euros worth of… Modern Warfare 3 copies.
For specific details on the heists, check out the full reports from local outlets below (with minor tweaks to the wording – in the interest of readability).
According to French news outlet, TFI (courtesy of Google Translation):
“Around 7:30 am, two employees delivering video games in a van were hit by another car, the source said. After leaving their vehicle to assess the damage, these two men, employed at a service provider working for a company selling video games, were tear-gassed by two individuals who occupied the car and whose faces were concealed, said the source close to the investigation. The criminals then hopped into the van and fled.”
According to Le Perisien, another incident occurred only 30 minutes earlier:
“At about 8:30, it took only a few minutes to criminals determined to seize a semi-truck carrying the cargo truck of the same game before arriving at Micromania Buchelay (Yvelines), the driver sees a powerful car block his path. He has little time to react. Three masked individuals step out. Pointing a handgun, they order him to leave his vehicle. One of the thugs flees driving the truck and the other car drives off with a bang, leaving the driver on the side of the road.”
Both trucks had left Bonneuil based Xfire distribution centers and were en route to various retailers. Sadly, the Modern Warfare 3 heist yet isn’t even the most profitable (or dramatic) robbery in the area. Le Perisien also reports that back in 2007, a group of thieves armed with AK-47′s stormed the distribution warehouse, incapacitating three guards and taking eight people hostage – before making off with nearly 1 million euros worth of video games and consoles.
Will Supply Trucks Need Gun Mounts for 'Modern Warfare 4' Deliveries?
Video game systems have always been an expensive luxury item but as the medium continues to shift from a niche industry to a dominant form of entertainment around the world, suppliers are handling more and more goods – and robbers can pass stolen items off to a larger pool of potential customers. It’s certainly discouraging to hear that video game supply trucks are actually worthwhile targets for criminals but let’s just hope that distributors learn from these incidents in order to, at the very least, protect their drivers from similar assaults in the future.
Activision‘s Modern Warfare 3 releases this week (though countless stolen and pirated copies are already in the wild) and is poised to once again shatter sales records and dominate playtime this holiday season (even in certain celebrity circles).
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Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick.
Modern Warfare 3 releases November 8, 2011 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.
TFI and Le Perisien [via CVG]
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wow. just…wow.
lol
I think EA is responsible lol
Ha ha true, Riccitiello is probably the mastermind behind the whole heist.
looks like the psn THE HEIST really paid off
More proof that Modern ware fare is over rated sack of crap.
That doesn’t make any sense. Go crawl back in your hole.
really. please do. if someone is willing to steal a buttload of the things, i highly doubt it wont sell.
As of late, there have been no reports of Battlefield 3 thefts to happen…
Because nobody wants the game.
jc Battle Field is Garbage x) trololololol
Maybe not. But at least MW3 won’t have some tacky online pass just because of piracy.
How does this prove that its over rated? a jewelry shop gets broken into does that mean jewelry is over rated no its means people know there is money to be made off what ever it is they steal so shut up you dont know what your even saying
That really sucks for the people who pre-order the game in that area. . . .
Thieves are the scum of the earth.
best news ever… of all time, HALO FTW! COD FTF! these thieves better attack other trucks hoarding copies of the game
They stole the shipments so that no one has to suffer through the game…jk jk I love BF3 and MW3 at same time
Wow it is just game……
Honestly, I think that this was planned for publicity. “Oh look a truck which must be carrying MW3 copies, lets go get our knives and teargas and intercept its path”. I mean, come on that sounds so unreal.
I agree with you there. That would be exactly the kind of publicity that Modern Warfare would want to sell more copies and make it sound better than BF3. At the same time though people could legitly make money off stealing the games so it could be real.
Heh, why go out of your way for a bad game?
Why go out of your way to make a stupid comment?
i think this is total bs, wtf would ‘armed gunmen’ attack a truck containing a recycled game ? you would think they’d go for something bigger to get more cash (sound systems etc). this along side the 1k purchase of the game, are all set to further hype the dying (and exhausted) franchise. if only more people where like me and didn’t fall for this marketing bs, then we’d all be able to sit down and have a nice long game of rush in bf3
Ever thought that BF3 and CoD are working together, to make you want to play and buy BF3 over CoD? Yeah, and you don’t fall for traps. Silly mortal.
The new GTA V trailer has a lot of hidden messages in it. If you want to watch the trailer and see the hidden messages, go to this site.
http://gta5news.blogspot.com/
Probably idiotic people who just can’t man taine themselves till tomorrow.
Excuse, I meant mantame.
…No, you meant maintain
He likes to tame men. lololololol
Typical people being inappropriate.
LOL Know why no BF3 shipments weren’t jacked? Cause they were distributed via Tanks and Jets! No robbers would want to get near that unless they came with their own “armed” jets and tanks. Seriously, how are we supposed to take this news seriously??? LOL
Although I like Battlefield quiet a bit, someone cares too much…