Police swoop on car thieves in €1 million raid on Costa del Sol

SIX people have been held on suspicion of stealing luxury cars worth €1 million on the Costa del Sol.

The arrests come after a Guardia Civil and National Police probe revealed that the gang used fake documentation to rent the vehicles from hire firms based near the airports of Malaga and Almeria.

Investigators swooped to seize properties with a value of €318,000 plus 15 cars, several of them dismantled and stowed in a lorry, six mobile phones, false identity cards, and 18 credit cards.

A police statement said that the operation was headed by three men from Italy who would rent the motors before passing them to a fourth Italian who acted as an intermediary, finding specialists to fit false licence plates or take them apart.

They were then smuggled to Morocco and traded for parts or rebuilt before being offered for sale. 

All four Italians have been remanded in custody alongside a Spaniard and a Moroccan.