Group of Moldovans suspected of stealing 114 trucks and limos across Europe

Eight members of a criminal group specializing in stealing automobiles from the European Union have been arrested by the joint effort to the French, Italian, German and Moldovan police, Lilian Levandovski, senior officer at the Moldovan Criminal Police Department, announced on Tuesday. “The criminal group, consisting mainly of Moldovan nationals, was practicing theft of trucks and luxury cars. Six of them were caught red-handed in France, one in Poland and another one in Italy”, said Levandovski. Five of the eight suspects are younger than 26 years. So far, the police managed to find 15 out of the total of 114 vehicles believed to be stolen by the group. The cars were sold in Moldova for around 30-40,000 euros each. In the CIS their price was around 60-70,000 euros. The total income of the group is estimated at about 5 million euros. The scheme used by the auto thieves was the following: a list of persons and firms using the vehicles was compiled, including brand names, colors and other details. After receiving an order for a certain type of vehicle, they would steal and leave it at a parking site. Then one of the Moldovans would fill a blank property certificate, obtained illegally from Italy, to register the vehicle in his name. To transport the car from the EU into Moldova, the stolen trucks were loaded with perishable foodstuffs, and this earned them fast and easy passage through the customs checkpoints. In the case of trucks, the situation was facilitated by the fact that the registration plates are usually placed under the body of the vehicle, which reduces visibility. In Moldova, the car was re-registered in the name of the buyer. Recently the group started exporting the stolen cars by maritime ways. They were loaded on ships in the Dutch ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and unloaded in the Ukrainian port of Odessa. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against the members of the group on charges of grand auto theft and smuggling in extremely large amounts.