A haul of 30 luxury sports and performance cars, stolen in 2016 and then smuggled to Thailand, has been returned following a lengthy police investigation.
With a combined value of more than £6 million, the cars were bought on finance by thieves from companies in the UK, then exported via Heathrow Airport as new cars to Singapore, before being shipped by sea to Thailand – a right-hand-drive market like the UK – and sold on by legitimate dealers.
Investigators from the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) kicked off an investigation codenamed Titanium in 2017 as a result of the thefts, and in a joint effort with Thai police, nine locations in Bangkok were raided. Police recovered 30 vehicles including eight Mercedes-Benzes, five Porsches, five BMWs, three Nissan GT-Rs, a Ford Mustang and a Lamborghini Huracan, but five cars from the criminals theft spree have yet to be recovered.
There were four arrests in London in 2017 following an investigation that involved the Metropolitan Police, National Crime Agency, and the Bangkok Department of Special Investigations, but no-one has been charged here in the UK in relation to the crimes. However, it’s a different story in Thailand, where 13 individuals have been charged.
