35 high-end cars stolen in the UK found after 8 years

>> Cars found in Thailand/NaVCIS

Eight years after 35 sports cars, supercars and luxury cars were stolen from the UK, police have finally found them in Thailand and returned them to their rightful owners.

The cars were stolen by a group of criminals from both countries who organized a financial fraud scheme to “buy” them from various British dealers, writes The Drive.

Eight years later, there was little hope of their return, until a random inspection of a shipping container put the UK's National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) on the trail of the criminals.

At Southampton Port, a cargo container with four stolen Mercedes. These “Mercedes” exposed a much larger theft, which eventually allowed NaVCIS to track down the rest of the missing cars. They were first purchased fraudulently and then quickly airlifted to Bangkok, where they were resold through genuine dealerships. With the help of the Thai police, NaVCIS was able to find all these cars.

As reported by The Guardian, NaVCIS head Sharon Naughton said that the shipping container “was the key point that led us to cooperate with the Thai authorities and by national crime-fighting agencies to expose the entire criminal enterprise. We found that some of these cars were airlifted to Bangkok.”

After 8 years, 35 vehicles, original value over £6 million were returned from Thailand following Op Titanium. These were obtained on fraudulent finance and within a few days were shipped to Bangkok. It took years of work and fantastic assistance from Thai authorities. pic.twitter.com/Ig0H5L2i97

— NaVCIS (@NaVCIS_UK) October 31, 2024

But why cars from Great Britain? According to Intrani Sumawong, a senior prosecutor at Thailand's international affairs department, this is because they drive on the right, just like Thai cars. The official also told The Guardian that Thais “like to own expensive cars “, and that “there is a very large market for these cars in Thailand”.

Most of the cars were mid-range to high-end sports cars such as the Nissan GT-R, BMW M4 and Porsche Boxster. There was even a Civic Type R and a convertible Mustang. However, the undisputed gem of the collection was the Lamborghini Huracan Spyder. Most of them were stolen from dealers, but the Lambo was stolen from a person who rented supercars. This financial loss nearly cost him his livelihood.

Fortunately, NaVCIS believes it has recovered all of the vehicles in the group, and all have reportedly been returned to their owners. Imagine losing a Lamborghini worth over $200,000 to a theft and almost losing your business because of it, thinking it was gone forever, and then eight years later you get a call from the police.