German, Dutch police break up gang of luxury car smugglers

A gang of car smugglers operating worldwide has been broken up by police in Germany and the Netherlands, the police department in the German city of Osnabrück announced on Friday, reported dpa.

The gang allegedly shipped stolen luxury cars as far as Dubai. A total of 13 members have been identified, and two of them are in custody, the police said.

The gang is suspected of having stolen luxury cars with a total value of about 2.5 million euros in several German states and then sold the vehicles worldwide with forged documents.

The cars were temporarily parked undercover in garages, such as in Groningen in the Netherlands, and prepared for sale.

According to the investigation, the thieves shipped a large part of the stolen vehicles to Dubai via the port of Rotterdam.

Other vehicles are said to have been resold on car exchanges and via receivers of stolen goods in Germany and via a car rental agency in France. According to the police, the gang acted very professionally.

A 66-year-old man and allegedly the head of the gang was arrested last week in the Dutch city of Ter Apelkanaal. During a search in a commercial building there, the police also found an illegal cigarette factory with 1.5 million cigarettes.

The 66-year-old man and other members are reportedly in custody in the Netherlands and Lithuania, and are to be extradited to Germany soon.