Eight years after 35 high-end sports cars, supercars, and luxury cars were stolen from the United Kingdom, police finally found them all in Thailand and returned them to their rightful owners. The cars were stolen by a group of criminals spanning both countries, who organized a finance fraud scheme to “buy” them from different U.K. dealers. After eight years, there wasn’t much hope of their return until a lucky shipping container inspection tipped off the U.K.’s National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS).
A shipping container containing four stolen Mercedes was found at the Port of Southampton. Those Mercs exposed a much wider theft that ultimately led NaVCIS to track down the rest of the cars that had gone missing. They were initially purchased using fraudulent means before being quickly air-freighted to Bangkok, where they were then sold again through actual dealerships. With the help of Thai police, NaVCIS was able to locate them all.
According to The Guardian, the head of NaVCIS, Sharon Naughton, said that the shipping container “was the pivot point that led us to working with the Thai authorities and national crime agencies to uncover a whole criminal enterprise. We identified a number of these vehicles had been transported to Bangkok via air freight.”
After 8 years, 35 vehicles, original value over £6million were returned from Thailand following Op Titanium. These were obtained on fraudulent finance and within a few days were shipped to Bangkok. It took years of work and fantastic assistance from Thai authorities. pic.twitter.com/Ig0H5L2i97
— NaVCIS (@NaVCIS_UK) October 31, 2024
Why cars from the U.K., though? The fact that they’re right-hand drive, like Thai cars, has something to do with it, according to Intranee Sumawong, a senior public prosecutor for Thailand’s international affairs department. Also, the official told The Guardian that Thai people “love to own high-value cars,” and that “it’s a very big market in Thailand for these cars.”
Most of the vehicles were mid-to-high-end sports cars, like Nissan GT-Rs, BMW M4s, and Porsche Boxsters. There was even a Civic Type R and Mustang convertible in the mix. However, the indisputable crown jewel of the collection was a Lamborghini Huracan Spyder. Most were taken from dealers, but the Lambo was stolen from someone who ran a supercar rental business. That financial loss almost tanked their livelihood.
Thankfully, NaVCIS believes it’s found every car in the group, and they have all been reportedly returned to their owners. Imagine having lost a $200,000-plus Lamborghini to theft and almost losing your business because of it too, thinking it was gone forever, and then getting a call from the police eight years later.
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