Premier League footballers have stolen cars returned
Essex police were able to track down the stolen Ferrari and Range Rover Sport before a scheduled trip to Dubai
The Essex Police Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit (SVIU) tracked down the stolen cars and returned them to two Premier League footballers.
The Ferrari and Range Rover Sport are among the 517 vehicles or parts of vehicles – with a combined value of more than £16m – that have been recovered so far in 2023.
The un-named footballers have more than 100 international caps between them, had their cars stolen in neighbouring counties.
PC Paul Gerrish, PC Phil Pentelow and analyst Hannah Gerrish located the vehicles in shipping containers scheduled to travel to Dubai from London Gateway Port in Thurrock.
Once a car is taken, thieves may look to quickly sell it on or strip it for parts, or ship either the whole car or parts of the car to areas including the Middle East and Africa. There, the vehicles can be sold for two or three times more than they would cost in the UK.
This summer Essex Police launched Operation Ignition which aims to dismantle the criminal gangs behind vehicle thefts.
The SVIU have retuned vehicles to hundreds of victims, dealing with everything from family saloons to supercars.
PC Paul Gerrish said:
“Every stolen car is important to us, and we work as hard as we can to get them back to their owners. When you phone someone up and tell them we’ve got their car with their kids’ car seats and the pushchair in the back, or other personal items, it’s hugely satisfying.
“We are creating a hostile environment for car thieves. We know what to look for and we know how and where they operate.”
One of the footballers travelled to the SVIU team base to be reunited with his car and praised their work.
PC Phil Pentelow said: “He was genuinely thankful and taken aback by the lengths we had gone to. His car was clearly very dear to him, and he was very impressed with the service he’d had from the police.
“Even though he plays for one of my team’s biggest rivals, he was a nice guy and down-to-earth. It was good to help him.”