Grand theft console: The story of 1,440 stolen PS3s

by Majed Athab { May 21st 2008 at 8:15PM }

Two men have been arrested and found guilty for being a part of quite possibly the biggest PS3 heist in history. Partizan Zejak and Nard Paloka, two men originally from Albania (uh oh, GTA IV jokes abound ... ) were unanimously convicted for the theft of 1,440 PlayStation 3 consoles in Grange Park, Northampton, UK.

The incident occurred in May of last year at a NYK Logistics warehouse where Paloka and Zejak used to work. NYK Logistics, a contracted distributor for Sony, said that 25 pallets containing PS3 consoles went missing since then and have not been recovered. The amount of merchandise stolen totaled up to £700,000 (US $1.4 million). That's a huge pay off; way more than any GTA IV mission could ever offer. Nice try guys, but now you're paying for it.

[Thanks Andy!]

Tags: crime, ps3, theft, uk

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

paul @ May 21st 2008 8:26PM

we're living the life cousin

Ishimaru @ May 21st 2008 8:30PM

LOL one of the guy's name is Nard XD

kevin @ May 21st 2008 9:09PM

dude niko is from russia who ever says they are from albania are just plain ignorant

Mr.ESC @ May 21st 2008 9:15PM

They aren't from Russia either.So far I think from an unspecified country in eastern Europe.

Yugoslavia according to wikipedia.

Oh yeah an the irony just owned you.

JaseH @ May 22nd 2008 2:04AM

You are correct Mr.ESC.

The reference link from that sentence in the Wikipedia article leads to an interview where Sam Houser says...

"He's from that gray part of broken-down Eastern Europe, a war-torn area -Sam Houser"

Which equals down to Yugoslavia, considering he faught in the Bosnian War & at the time of his "Younger" years, this area was broken down & war-torn.

______________________________________
JaseH.

Popfrogs @ May 22nd 2008 11:46AM

Not only that ^^^ but there is a specific cutscene where someone calls Niko russian and he denies it right away.

DjDATZ @ May 22nd 2008 11:57AM

@Original Post I have no clue WTF Albania has to do with GTA IV...

@kevin Niko is Serbian. Not Russian

@Mr. Esc Yugoslavia doesn't exist anymore. It's Serbia and Montenegro since 2006.

Mr.ESC @ May 21st 2008 9:16PM

Don't do anything stupid cousin!

Well they don't have to worry the will be out soon without their guns and half their money gone,right?

pavs @ May 21st 2008 9:17PM

this just shows that PS3 is still very popular, but its just too expensive.

JaseH @ May 22nd 2008 2:06AM

The reference link from that sentence in the Wikipedia article leads to an interview where Sam Houser says...

"He's from that gray part of broken-down Eastern Europe, a war-torn area -Sam Houser"

Which equals down to Yugoslavia, considering he faught in the Bosnian War & at the time of his "Younger" years, this area was broken down & war-torn.

______________________________________
JaseH.

Nodgedafunk @ May 21st 2008 9:26PM

They are from Russia, because they speak Russian in the game. I guess they could be from a former Russian Republic, but they do speak Russian.

Killer @ May 21st 2008 9:56PM

They're either from the Ukraine, Belarus, or Serbia. Several times in the game Niko keeps saying he isn't russian.

Gimboa @ May 21st 2008 9:59PM

Pay attention!

They aren't from Russia. Niko is constantly annoyed when NPCs refer to him as Russian. It's a major plot point that he isn't from Russia.

Nodgedafunk @ May 21st 2008 10:55PM

I have not gotten that far into the game, but he does, without a doubt speak Russian, I know because I speak some Russian. The former soviet union, where Russian was the primary language, was made up of Armenia, Azerbajia, Byelorussia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazahkstan, Kirghizstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Russia, Tajikstan, Turkenstan, Ukraine, and Uzbekstan. So he could be from any of those countries, therefore, not Russian. Sorry for the confusion.

Nathan-DTS @ May 26th 2008 2:44PM

i'm sorry to ruin your guesses of what country Niko Bellic is from but, during the game he insists several times that he isn't Russian and durin a particular side mission which involves taking a strange and 'special' person called Eddy somewhere, eddy says "you look like ur from eastern europe, bulgaria or romania" to which Niko says that eddys a smart man.

DjDATZ @ May 22nd 2008 12:02PM

It isn't Russian. It's Serbian. Both Russian and Serbian are Slavic languages and do share some very similar words but are VERY far from being similar in grammar and the rest of the language.

Because you speak a little Russian, you can probably pick up some words, and this tricks you into thinking its Russian. When you can understand whole phrases, sentences or everything they say, then it's the language you speak. I speak Croatian, which is VERY close to Serbian (save for a couple minor differences) and I laugh really hard at some of the things Niko and Roman say. This is because I can understand the hidden meaning in what they say, which you don't get with the direct translation to English.

Johnny Lasley @ May 21st 2008 10:10PM

There's Albanians in the game. Niko doesn't like those Albanians. That is what he's referring to.

mathab @ May 22nd 2008 12:06PM

Right on the money! ;)

NineT9 @ May 21st 2008 10:42PM

What they SHOULD have done, is left 3 of them...so it says they stole 1,337

Now THAT would be something to be proud of, even if you got caught

Iceman184 @ May 21st 2008 10:59PM

Were they still working there when the PS3's went missing? if so NYK Logistics should be held liable for the 1.4 million in losses.

cloud66 @ May 21st 2008 11:15PM

wtf...nico and his cousin are from Serbia!they say that thousands times during the game...do you even know guys where Serbia is?

JaseH @ May 22nd 2008 2:06AM

linkwarrior408 @ May 21st 2008 11:41PM

@ NineT9 1440 - 3 doesnt equal 1337, it equals 1437

Link408 @ May 21st 2008 11:42PM

@ NineT9 1440 - 3 doesnt equal 1337, it equals 1437

Davis @ May 21st 2008 11:59PM

Actually they'd have to leave 103.

kentuckyfried @ May 22nd 2008 12:12AM

Wow...these guys are fucking dumb.

One should never shit where one eats.

tony @ May 22nd 2008 11:29AM

1440 PS3 = US $1.4 million?
that's not right.
1440x$499.99=$719985

Kieran @ May 22nd 2008 5:17AM

A 40GB PS3 is $600 in the UK (£299)

Phileoca @ May 22nd 2008 10:55AM

and since may of last year. What was the price before the cut?
and what SKU's did they take. I trust the accuracy of the numbers of your math skills.

Iridium @ May 22nd 2008 11:48AM

Wonder if these ended up being sent to the US through the Albanian mob connections.

Albanians are turning the city I live into a shithole. Some mob guys own apartment buildings where people pay a guy in Albania to be sent to America. Then they have to work off their debt. The mob in Albania actually sends out flyers about coming to my town. It was in all the papers. Human trafficking FTW.