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New York case targets alleged foreign cargo theft network
Defendants are accused of diverting freight loads and reselling stolen merchandise through secondary markets
The case combines charges against defendants arrested in California, Pennsylvania, Florida and New York into a single prosecution. (matt_benoit/Getty Images)
Key Takeaways:
- Federal prosecutors allege an international cargo theft ring stole about $10 million in freight beginning in March 2023.
- An alleged overseas dispatcher accused of coordinating thefts remains outside the United States and has not been arrested.
- Investigators say defendants posed as carriers, diverted shipments and sold stolen cargo through secondary markets.
An Eastern European gang is facing federal charges in New York for alleged cargo theft involving a foreign dispatcher guiding U.S. thefts of $10 million in cryptocurrency mining machines, consumer goods and food products.
The case combines charges against defendants arrested in California, Pennsylvania, Florida and New York into a single prosecution in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Court records also separately identify an alleged Eastern European dispatcher first identified as Edgar Lnu (last name unknown) but later changed to Bezhanian, who remains at large outside the United States.
The purported cargo thefts began around March 23, 2023, and focused on high-value freight allegedly coordinated by at least one overseas dispatcher working with facilitators, drivers and workers around the United States to allegedly divert, take, transport and sell “numerous loads of stolen merchandise,” an indictment noted.
The FBI’s Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force conducted the investigation that included criminal charges against mostly noncitizens:
Alleged participants
Russia: Araik Setrakian, Vagan Gulian and Sevak Kocharian
Ukraine: Vitaly Koshelan
India: Jashanpreet Singh
Other defendants: Americans Zhirayr Gumruyan, who holds Armenian citizenship, and Arkadiy Pastin
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York
The June 30 indictment describes one alleged foreign dispatcher as Bezhanian, a citizen of Armenia, who is believed to have lived in Eastern Europe during the crimes. He is accused of changing shipping information as well as communicating “when and where a fraudulently obtained load should be picked up and where it should be delivered,” the indictment stated.
A typical theft involved at least one defendant allegedly posing as a legitimate shipping carrier or supply chain company to secure a freight contract. Then other members purportedly either picked up the shipment or redirected it by changing delivery addresses or shipping information and removing geolocation tracking devices attached to cargo. After a load reportedly reached the gang’s chosen destination, the stolen goods apparently were unloaded and sold to fences, who resold them on secondary markets.
The gang is accused of stealing $360,000 in whiskey meant to be shipped from Texas to New Jersey. Defendants allegedly met once in a New Jersey warehouse to discuss black-market sales of 8,000 bottles and another time in Brooklyn to sell 200 bottles “for an amount far below the market price,” court records state.
Another purported theft involved $114,000 of skincare and haircare products intended for transport from Ohio to California in May 2025 but instead were taken to warehouses for distribution in New Jersey and New York.
Other targeted items
Along with electronics, meat and fish, other stolen cargo apparently included:
23,400 eggs worth $51,000 meant for shipment from Pennsylvania to Utah
$1.2 million in clothing originally destined for transport from North Carolina to Ohio
$300,000 in liqueur that was supposed to go from New Jersey to Virginia
Defendants also are accused of sending electronic photos of bills of lading listing stolen merchandise to others who apparently exchanged screenshots of webpages showing the public prices of the pilfered items.
James C. Barnacle Jr., FBI assistant director in charge of the N.Y. field office, said the defendants were part of an international network “to steal merchandise and resell these stolen goods at the direct expense of sellers, shippers and buyers.”
Other partners in the investigation were the New York City Police Department, New Jersey State Police, the Port Authority Police Department, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
