Police recover 73 stolen vehicles at Felixstowe port destined for Africa
Insurers could be in for a £2m windfall after police recovered 73 high value vehicles at Felixstowe port.
Police carried out a six-week operation finishing last Friday, discovering stolen vehicles from across the country, destined for the Middle East and Africa.
Most were high value prestige cars taken when burglars raided the victim’s home.
Assistant Chief Constable Chris Miller of Hertfordshire Constabulary, who heads up the collaborated unit of officers from Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk said: “Every burglary leaves behind a victim and it is a priority for us to tackle these crimes, bring offenders to justice and, where possible, return the vehicles and goods to their owner.
“Earlier this year the decision was taken to carry out an operation to explore the issues of vehicles being stolen to order and shipped abroad to Africa, the Middle East and beyond. This operation has proved extremely successful and we have had a great deal of positive feedback from victims who have been reunited with their property. We will continue to work with partners to tackle these crimes and will look at the possibility of carrying out similar operations in the future.”
Cunningham Lindsey has been sharing information with the police’s Regional Intelligence Unit for the East of England, validating which insurance companies were affected by the vehicle thefts.
Christian Aplin, the company’s head of investigation services, says: “We have been pleased to add our expertise to the police’s fight against organised crime and vehicle theft.
“Working with them is a logical step for Cunningham Lindsey as identifying organised criminal groups and sharing information about criminal activity is at the core of what we do and is crucial to beating the fraudsters.
“We hope that the success of the latest operation will mean we can continue to share information with the police and broaden our co-operation across the UK.”
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Hooper from AVCIS said: "We were happy to support this operation by providing intelligence and highly-trained vehicle examiners who were able to identify a significant number of stolen vehicles destined for export, many on false identities. This clearly demonstrates that organised criminals remain very active in vehicle theft and burglary, particularly where prestige and valuable vehicles are stolen to order and we are working with colleagues around the country to detect and dismantle their criminal activities.”
Stuart Chapman, Police Relationships Manager, TRACKER said: “TRACKER technology has once again played an instrumental part in stopping organised vehicle crime. We value our unique partnership with the police and are delighted with the successful outcome of this operation."
“We hope that the success of the latest operation will mean we can continue to share information with the police and broaden our co-operation across the UK.”
Police carried it out with number of agencies including the UK Border Agency and AVCIS (the Association of Chief Police Officers Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service).
