Organised crime gangs steal vehicles to order

the police. In total, Home Office statistics revealed that 105,512 cars were stolen in 2021. Only 29,543 of these vehicles were ever recovered.

In recent years, car and parts theft has risen across the UK –with the recovery rate remaining very low. New research indicated that this problem is part of an international trend.

A European Union Serious Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA) report reveals there has been an expansion of organised car crime across Europe.

Published every four years, the report analyses car crime across the European Union. This edition still includes the UK despite Brexit.

SOCTA’s findings suggest that risk of serious and organised crime relating to motorists across the EU has never been higher. There are currently more than 5,000 organised crime groups that are under investigation.

The report found that criminal organisations have taken advantage of the situation due to

COVID-19 and the economic fallout in recent years.

According to the research, organised crime syndicates are run in a similar way to modern businesses, with management, operatives, and sales workers –drawing comparisons to high level international drug trafficking cartels. In some cases, cars are stolen to order, with inter- national buyers making vehicle requests to criminal organisations who track them down based on their client’s brief.

The global automotive aftermarket for replacement parts and accessories is worth more than $390bn.

SOCTA found that in the UK, organised vehicle crime has emerged as a major problem for

Motorcycle theft is also prevalent in the UK with an estimated 25,212 stolen in 2022, and only 37% of them were found again by the police.

The SOCTA report looked into the impact of organised crime relating to vehicles across the continent. The research shows that Italy lost 166,075 vehicles last year; in France a total of 173,010 cars were stolen; and in Holland there were more than 85,700 incidents of vehicle theft in 2022.

Like the UK, EU nations had similar levels of recovery: around 25-30%.

By way of context, in the USA reports show that more than $4.5bn worth of car theft (parts and vehicles) happened in the first six months of 2022. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NCIB) stated that more than half-a-million vehicles were stolen in that same time frame.