Decin, North Bohemia, Dec 21 (CTK) – Detectives from the National Centre against Organised Crime (NCOZ) uncovered a gang that organised thefts of luxury Range Rover cars in the Czech Republic and Germany and their legalisation, NCOZ spokeswoman Iva Knolova told CTK on Thursday.
As cars were being stolen in Germany as well, the police cooperated with their colleagues from Dresden.
Knolova said three men based in Varnsdorf, north Bohemia, were leading the group, often using violence to achieve their objectives and control the other group members. Those were stealing the cars, obtaining fake import papers, altering the mechanic and electronic identification features of the cars.
The cars were then registered under a new identity to front men. Thanks to the fake documents, the group passed the cars off as cars imported from Greece and then it sold them to dealers who exported them abroad.
Nine suspects of Albanian origin were accused and the gang’s heads were taken into custody by the police intervention unit in the north and east of Bohemia on charges of legalisation of profit from criminal activity and of falsification of documents. The rest are facing charges of collaboration in criminal activity and legalisation of profit from criminal activity.
The police estimate the damage at almost 12 million crowns.
Further investigation is being led in Germany regarding more than 30 cases of theft of Volkswagen and Range Rover cars worth 730,230 euros.
