FBI Investigates Vandalism to Chicago-Area Lobster Firm's Fleet

Feb 04, 2003 (Chicago Tribune - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- Lines to brakes and refrigeration systems on a fleet of Villa Park seafood company trucks were cut over the weekend, damage the FBI is investigating as the act of a radical animal rights group opposed to the killing of sea creatures.

Vandals entered an unsecured lot on the 200 block of North Avenue and cut the lines on dozens of Supreme Lobster and Seafood Co. trucks. They also wrote "ALF--No Brakes" on a bay door of a company building.

Investigators believe ALF stands for the Animal Liberation Front, a loose group of animal rights activists whom the FBI considers active
domestic terrorists. According to an anonymous e-mail sent to the Tribune, members also called themselves the "Groundhog Crew" because they claimed to have damaged the trucks early Sunday, which was Groundhog Day.

In the e-mail titled "ALF Communique," the group alleged the Midwest's largest lobster distributor was responsible for the deaths of more than 1 billion sea creatures over the last 25 years.