Luxury cars were stolen in EU countries: an international group of criminals was neutralized
Kyiv • UNN
An international criminal organization specializing in the theft of luxury cars from leasing companies in the EU countries was liquidated during a joint operation with the participation of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, France, Spain, Poland and Europol.
As a result of an international Special Operation, law enforcement officers eliminated a criminal organization that specialized in car theft in EU countries. This is reported by the press service of the Office of the prosecutor general, writes UNN.
Prosecutors of the Prosecutor General's office, employees of the JeM, GSU of the National Police of Ukraine, together with colleagues from France, Spain and Poland, as well as Europol and Eurojust, exposed members of an international criminal organization that specialized in seizing vehicles of leasing companies in EU countries. International operational and investigative teams (OTF and JIT) have been set up to quickly exchange information between law enforcement officers. And the special operation itself received the conditional name Matador,
Details
It is noted that the criminal organization included more than 50 citizens from different countries - Ukraine, France, Spain, Poland, Lithuania, the Russian Federation and other countries. It had its own hierarchical structure, where participants in each separate group were assigned a separate role - recruiters, carriers, technicians, mechanics and coordinators.
Participants of the scheme rented or leased luxury cars on the documents of front persons. Recruiters look for them in Ukraine. We provided logistics during the move and stay. After registration of the car using forged documents, "carriers" delivered vehicles from rental locations to a certain address.
A separate branch of the group was the so-called "Black mechanics". Their duties included unauthorized shutdown of GPS signals and artisanal replacement of numbers. Participants of another link legalized these cars and sold them to third countries.
Currently, the involvement of members of the criminal organization in the commission of 36 episodes of illegal possession of luxury cars in Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Portugal and Italy has been documented.
In May 2024, law enforcement officers simultaneously conducted about 70 searches at the places of residence of the defendants, as well as processing and selling stolen vehicles on the territory of Ukraine, France, Spain, Poland, Latvia and Germany.
13 people - leaders and main members of an international criminal organization-were detained.
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