Thirty sports cars stolen by an international fraud ring have been reunited with their owners in one of the biggest operations of its kind in the UK.
Police recovered the luxury vehicles - worth £6.5million in total, with one alone costing £220,000 when new - from Thailand and brought them back to our shores.
The seven-year probe, named Operation Titanium, began when officers seized four stolen Mercedes cars from a container at Southampton Port.
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Peter Duncan, who ran one of the companies that unwittingly transported the vehicles, said: "This is probably the biggest single block repatriation of cars in the UK, definitely the biggest I have ever seen.
"It's a great feeling to get these cars back into the UK, especially to get them back to the people who rightfully own them.
"I'm happy to have them home in an operation where we have learnt a lot and improved a lot off the back of it."
In 2017, it is believed four UK nationals fraudulently financed 35 cars using forged documents, often using their own details.
Within a week of getting the keys, the cars were illegally exported to Thailand via shipping containers, which block tracker alarm signals, or unwitting air freight companies, and then sold to innocent customers.
Peter Duncan's company, the Surrey-based Kangaroo World Cargo Limited, was one of the freight companies.
The commercial director said: “The system back then did not flag up when cars were missing finance payments.
"The finance companies would be sending out letters to a random flat which would have had a mountain of mail at the door.
“It would take a good six weeks for the finance companies to report the cars as stolen, by which point the cars would already be in Thailand.”
The Hampshire-based National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) led the operation, working closely with the Thai authorities.
All of the vehicles were owned by finance companies, except one green Lamborghini Huracan Spyder worth £220,000 at the time it was stolen.
“There is no such thing as a victimless crime,” said Sharon Naughton, head of NaVCIS.
“The vehicle has depreciated over the seven years, but a £80,000 return from total loss will be massive for this private owner who almost hit the wall during the investigation.”
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Thirty of the 35 stolen vehicles were recovered.
“The legitimate buyers in Thailand were an obstacle," said Steve Poole, NaVCIS’ Port Officer who covers Southampton.
“Dealing with the bureaucracies of another country was an obstacle but when cars are on finance, they’re not covered by any insurance."
He said for the companies financing the cars, this would have been 'money down the drain'.
Disputes over the ownership of the cars was only settled over the summer, and now the 30 vehicles are waiting to be picked up this week by their owners in a warehouse inThe fraudulent operation was masterminded by an individual in Thailand, who is now facing a charge of fraud due to evading tax by undervaluing the cars at import in his native country.
No charges were brought against the four UK nationals.
Steps have now been taken to upgrade the system to protect financed cars from being exported out of the country, as cars will now be flagged up at export if payments are missing.
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