Sundiata Bilal Simba, Truck Driver, Steals And Sells 1,500 Cases Of Beer

Truck drivers carry precious cargo every day. So precious, in fact, that sometimes they take that cargo into their own hands.

Truck driver Sundiata Bilal Simba, 52, was assigned to transport some 1,500 cases of Budweiser beer from Houston to Corpus Christi, Texas. When the shipment never arrived, Simba’s boss grew concerned, The Houston Chronicle reports. At first, Simba claimed the freightliner had broken down, then he admitted that he had sold the beer “because he needed the money."

Less than a week later, police responded to reports of beer being sold from rental trailers at a Northeast Houston residence. Police were also able to match bar codes linking Simba’s shipment to the beer being sold, the Associated Press reports.

Simba, who had only been working for the shipping line Nuks for a month, isn’t the first trucker driver to go rogue. In August, truck driver Paul Reyes confessed to stealing various electronics, clothing items and other merchandise over a period of years, valued at roughly $32,000, KXXV reports. Other’s crimes are less benign. Armored truck driver Kenneth Konias Jr was charged this year with killing his partner and then stealing around $2 million in cash from the vehicle he’d been driving.

But the fact that Simba chose to steal beer at all may have something to do with its increased prevalence along shipment lines. Beer shipments are back up for the first time since 2008, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.

P.S. If you're worried about your personal beer budget, blame taxes. A lot of taxes.

(Hat tip: The Daily Mail)