Eli Lilly Reports $75 Million Drug Theft

In one the biggest heists of its kind, thieves broke into a Connecticut warehouse early Sunday morning making off with enough prescription drugs to fill a tractor-trailer. Agents from the FBI are joining local law enforcement to investigate the crime.

The burglars certainly seemed to know what they were doing. The Hartford Courant reports that they scaled the walls of the Enfield, Conn., warehouse of Eli Lilly, an international pharmaceutical company, and cut a hole through the roof. They lowered themselves down and disabled the alarm system. They then spent the next few hours removing several pallets of drugs. Authorities could not yet say just which drugs were taken. “It certainly has the appearance of a sophisticated, well-planned, criminal operation,” said company spokesman Edward Sagabiel. He estimated the value of the stolen drugs at $75 million, which he described as “several dozen pallets of products that range across our portfolio.” Police responded to the warehouse at 1:50 p.m. Sunday after a call from an employee who had discovered the burglary.