The National Police have broken up a Lithuanian crime group that was headquartered in numerous places around the country and was involved in the illegal trade of cars. Six people have been arrested, one of them was in Orihuela. So far, the inquiry has resulted to the recovery of 13 stolen cars and the temporary detention of four of the people who were detained.
The network worked mostly in the Axarquía area of Málaga, where they stole low-mileage cars of the same Japanese brand and then sold them for a lot of money. The inquiry found that the group was quite organised, with members given specific tasks to steal cars, hide them for a while, change their distinguishing features, and then sell them again as if they were new.
At the start of the year, the inquiry began after more complaints of cars being stolen that looked the same were noticed. At first, it looked like a few members of a Lithuanian group working in the province of Málaga were involved, but the primary criminals were based in Almería.
The police operation led to the arrest of the group’s commander in Almería. In the province of Málaga, four more people were arrested, two in Mijas and two in Vélez-Málaga. A sixth person was arrested in Orihuela, which is in the province of Alicante.
It has been put together that the gang had a hierarchy and people who were experts in each stage of the criminal process. Some were in charge of stealing the cars, some were in charge of moving them to remote places to hide them for a period, and still others were in charge of changing them so that there was no sign of them.
How they changed cars that had been stolen
After being hidden for so long, the cars were brought to Almería, where they were “rebranded.” Changing the number plate, changing the chassis number and giving them new paperwork to put them back on the legal market in Spain and other EU nations were all part of this deception.
To do this, the group is said to have hired people who were good at making fake documents and doing technical work with cars. The goal was to make it look like the automobiles were legal, even if they had been stolen before. These cars were quite popular on the market since they had minimal mileage and were in good shape.
During the operation’s searches, they found tools for making fake items, parts for identifying vehicles, tools for stealing, computer programs for copying control units and keys, and more than 2,000 euros in cash.
The probe is still going on
The police are still looking into the case and are now going over all the information they got throughout the operation. So, it’s possible that more arrests will be made and more cars tied to this group will be found.
So far, the agents have been able to give back 13 cars to their owners. They are still working to figure out how much crime the organization has been involved in.
