More than 400,000 KitKat chocolate bars weighing about 12 tonnes have been stolen from a truck in Europe.
The chocolates, produced by Nestlé, disappeared while being transported from a factory in central Italy to Poland, according to a statement from KitKat. In total, 413,793 bars were taken during the journey.
“The vehicle and its contents remain unaccounted for, and investigations are ongoing in close collaboration with local authorities and supply chain partners,” reads the statement.
KitKat said each stolen chocolate bar can be traced through its batch number on the packaging and urged anyone who spots a matching product to report it to the company.
The statement also cited a joint report by the International Union of Marine Insurance and the Transported Asset Protection Association EMEA, which found that cargo theft and freight fraud are becoming more frequent and increasingly sophisticated.
“We’ve always encouraged people to have a break with KITKAT – but it seems thieves have taken the message too literally and made a break with more than 12 tonnes of our chocolate,” said a spokesperson in the statement.
“Whilst we appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes,” added the spokesperson.
This is not the first major chocolate theft recorded in Europe in recent years. In July 2023, a British man was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing 200,000 chocolate eggs.
