Police: Thieves rob delivery truck, take off with $30K in cigarettes

Palo Alto police are searching for three men who robbed a delivery truck at College Terrace gas station Thursday morning and made off with $30,000 worth of cigarettes, according to a police news release.

Police said the robbery occurred at around 7:30 a.m. at the Shell gas station at 2200 El Camino Real. Two delivery workers had arrived at the station in a 53-foot semi-trailer truck to make a delivery and one of them, a man in his 40s, went inside the station to get some paperwork signed. The other man, who is in his 50s, remained in the back of the trailer, according to the police.

As his partner was inside, the delivery worker in the trailer heard footsteps and turned around to see two men approaching, police said. One of them reached for a bulge in his waistband and told him to stay back, police said, though he didn’t actually display any weapons.

The two men then began to cut wrapping off a pallet inside the truck and then passed several storage boxes filled with cigarettes to a third man, who remained outside. That man then dumped the cigarettes out of the boxes and into an awaiting sport utility vehicle, police said. All three men then got inside the vehicle and took of west on College Avenue.

Police said no one was physically injured during the altercation. The three men remain at large.

The delivery men described the robbers as men in their 20s, with dark clothing and ski masks covering their faces. Police said there have not been any similar crimes reported in Palo Alto recently.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the department’s 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413 or send anonymous tips to paloalto@tipnow.org or to (650) 383-8984.