This video shows the industrial scale in which Polish car thieves have been stealing and dismantling luxury motors across Europe for shipment and reassembly outside of the EU.
The seizure of tens of thousands of car parts is part of a joint operation involving German, Polish and Dutch police officers and starts with Dutch officers seizing a shipping container containing 24 dismantled Mercedes cars that were due to be sent to Hong Kong.
Video Credit: CEN
The illegal cargo was intercepted at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Europe’s largest port, and local media reports the combined value of the stolen vehicle parts was over 10 million PLN (2.1 million GBP).
Two other containers full of parts that were supposed to reach Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were also recently seized in the operation underlining the professional way that the cars were stolen in Europe before being dismantled and then shipped outside of the EU.
The video then moves to the source of the car parts which is a huge warehouse and yard packed with dismantled brand-new cars including Porsches, Ranhe Rovers and more Mercedes stolen from a crime spree spreading across Europe.
In a press release Polish cop said that the seizure comes as part of a coordinated Polish-German police operation against what they described as an “international network of car thieves and car part smugglers”.
Police said that the combined value of the three secured containers destined for Hong Kong, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates exceeds 40 million PLN (8.4 million GBP).
Six suspects aged between 42 and 53 have been detained in the case since November 2018.
All of the detainees are suspected of also being involved in stealing luxurious Mercedes Benz, Range Rover and Porsche cars throughout Europe.
Among the detained individuals are two Polish inhabitants of the Lower Silesia province, two German-Lebanese siblings and a 46-year-old Slovak citizen.
The two Poles are currently facing 33 charges, including the theft of 120 luxurious cars, and were ordered to be detained in investigative custody for a period of three months.
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Story By: Bartosz Staszewski, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Central European News
