Special Police Unit In Essex Recovers $27 Million in Stolen Vehicles, Including Crates Filled With Luxury Cars

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The Essex-based Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit (SVIU) has wrapped up a highly successful year, marking a milestone with the identification and recovery of 737 stolen cars valued at over $30 million.

Specializing in the retrieval of stolen vehicles, the SVIU utilizes evidence gathered during recovery operations to enhance future searches for missing cars.

In a remarkable feat, the SVIU recovered more then £1 million ($1.28 million) worth of vehicles in the final week of December alone. This achievement was made possible by intercepting shipping containers concealing luxury vehicles, including a Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, and Range Rover belonging to Premier League soccer players.


Following the theft of a car, thieves often attempt to sell it quickly, sometimes even at a fraction of its market value, dismantle it for parts, or transport either the entire vehicle or its components to regions like the Middle East and Africa. In these areas, stolen vehicles can fetch prices two to three times higher than in the UK.

Police Constables Phil Pentelow and Paul Gerrish, commonly referred to as “Police Constable (PC)”, highlighted that carjackers target not only high-profile athletes but also ordinary citizens.

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“We are seeing a trend at the moment of thieves targeting family cars, Hyundais, Toyotas, Lexuses, and pushing them back out into the market with false identities. These are the vehicles that make a huge difference to people’s daily lives,” said PC Gerrish.

“It’s very satisfying when we return a car to a family who need it to drive the children to school, or we take a van back to someone who relies on it for their job.”

Since the beginning of 2021, the SVIU has recovered or identified over 1,800 vehicles valued at more than $60 million. Notably, 626  cars were recovered in 2022, marking a 30% increase from the previous year.

PC Gerrish proudly said, “We are continuing to dismantle the organized criminal networks behind these thefts. We’ve tracked down a record number of vehicles in the past year and recently we’ve had three very big jobs where we’ve recovered huge hauls of cars.”


In recognition of their exceptional efforts, PC Pentelow, PC Gerrish, and their analytics partner Hannah Gerrish received awards from the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators for their ‘outstanding contribution in the fight against vehicle crime.’ Their commendable track records has attracted the attention of luxury manufacturers like Mercedes and Jaguar, who are collaborating with the SVIU to enhance security measures and tracking systems in their models.

A significant aspect of the SVIU’s operations involves identifying and dismantling illegal chop shops, where stolen cars are stripped or have their identities altered. Since its establishment, the SVIU has shut down over 100 illicit garages operating in grey and black markets.

“Our work stretches beyond recovering individual stolen cars and encompasses the wider network of criminality behind each theft,” said Gerrish. “We aim to make this a hostile county for car thieves to operate in.”

 

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