Thousands of cans of Pabst beer stolen in two separate heists in California

Both thefts occurred on 17 August at a distribution center east of Los Angeles Thieves made off with tens of thousands of cans of Pabst beer in two separate heists from a southern California warehouse on the same day, police said. Pabst Blue Ribbon has turned the thefts – valued by police at $70,000 – into a lighthearted social media promotion. But police in Montclair said on Friday that investigators were trying to determine whether they were part of a single operation. In the first heist, about $45,000 worth of beer headed to Tucson, Arizona, was picked up but never delivered, according to police. An hour later, a “purported subcontracting company” submitted fake documents to pick up another $25,000 worth of beer, Montclair police said in a news release. Both thefts occurred on 17 August at an Anheuser-Busch distribution center about 40 miles (65km) east of Los Angeles. Roughly 34,000 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and non-alcoholic Old Milwaukee beer – more than 1,500 cases – were stolen, according to a police report obtained by the Los Angeles Times. In Instagram posts, Pabst put the weight of the stolen cargo at 40,000 pounds (18,000kg) and started a countdown seeking its return. “