Stolen car racket in Catalonia smashed

ACCORDING to an announcement made on December 14 by the Policia Nacional, a joint operation between that organisation, Mossos d’Esquadra and the Tax Agency has resulted in the arrest of 25 members of a criminal organization that was stealing luxury cars and then sending them to Paraguay, where they were re-sprayed and sold locally.

In total, it is believed that the gang had stolen 200 luxury cars of which 125 were from Catalonia although arrests were spread through Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Madrid.

Officials identified an area where containers were loaded with cars and car parts for shipping to Paraguay and, when raided, they discovered a number of stolen cars and later the Paraguayan authorities reported the discovery of a number of cars which had been stolen in Catalonia.

The criminals based in Spain were responsible for stealing the vehicles and falsifying documents for presentation to customs prior to export whilst those in Paraguay were responsible for receiving the vehicles, making them ‘street legal’ locally, selling the cars and paying members of the gang in Spain.