Quickest buisness in 60 minutes: How criminal gangs are stealing prestige vehicles from wealthy homes and exporting them within AN HOUR
The organised criminals are targeting sought-after BMWs, Range Rovers (both top left), Audis and even trucks and diggers. The modern vehicles are often stolen using high-tech hacking equipment that means the thieves do not even need a key. They are driven into shipping containers (right) and exported to clients in Africa, Cyprus, the U.S. and even Malaysia and Burma. Some of the car theft rings are so sophisticated they can steal a car and get it out of the country in less than an hour. Police also discovered a container filled with valuable parts from at least 29 stolen BMWs that had been broken down (bottom left).
Gangs are stealing prestige vehicles from the driveways of wealthy
homes and exporting them from Britain in less than 60 minutes.
The organised criminals are targeting sought-after BMWs, Range
Rovers, Audis and even trucks and diggers.
The modern vehicles are often stolen using high-tech hacking
equipment that means the thieves do not even need a key.
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Prestige vehicles: Organised criminals are targeting sought-after
BMWs, Range Rovers, Audis and even trucks and diggers
Discovery: Police found a container filled with valuable parts
from at least 29 stolen BMWs that had been broken down .
Stolen: The vehicles are driven into shipping containers and
exported to clients in Africa, Cyprus, the U.S. and even Malaysia and Burma
They are driven into shipping containers and exported to clients
in Africa, Cyprus, the U.S. and even Malaysia and Burma.
Some of the car theft rings are so sophisticated they can steal a
car and get it out of the country in less than an hour.
Last month the authorities recovered 44 vehicles worth more than
£1.2million in a nationwide crackdown.
The operation, led by the National Crime Agency and Border Force,
targeted containers at ports across the country.
Eighteen of the vehicles were stolen from addresses in London,
Surrey, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Germany and the Netherlands.
Some were concealed inside containers by loads of clothes and
other consumer goods, or hidden behind large sheets of cardboard.
Operation: Last month the authorities recovered 44 vehicles worth
more than £1.2million in a nationwide crackdown
Quick: Some of the car theft rings are so sophisticated they
can steal a car and get it out of the country in less than an hour
Many
of the other stolen cars belonged to finance companies who had been duped into loaning them
to bogus customers or to hire companies.
Police
also discovered a container filled with valuable parts from at least 29 stolen
BMWs that had been broken down.
Prestigious
vehicles are highly prized by criminals themselves and also retain their value
for resale wherever they are transported in the world.
Tom
Dowdall, of the NCA’s Border Policing Command, said some criminal networks have
begun paying for consignments of drugs with cars.
He
said: ‘Exporting and selling stolen vehicles on the black market is a
lucrative business for organised crime groups as they also avoid
tax or import duties.
‘This
type of crime not only affects car owners but also manufacturers, insurance companies and vehicle-related businesses such
as rental companies and garages.
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