THE HAGUE, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- In a large-scale operation 40 individuals were arrested in Spain and France for their involvement in the stealing and trafficking of vehicles, the EU agency for law enforcement cooperation Europol announced on Thursday.
The arrested people, 32 in Spain and 8 in France, were part of an organized crime group. Europol, headquartered in The Hague, has supported the Spanish police Guardia Civil and the French police Gendarmerie Nationale to dismantle the organization.
In total, 118 stolen vehicles were recovered, of which the sale would have brought over 4.5 million euros (5 million U.S. dollars) to the gang. According to Europol the stolen vehicles were regular passenger cars, from all kinds of brands.
In January 2018 the Spanish authorities started their investigation. They found out that this crime group had been stealing original vehicle documents and vehicles, falsified vehicles' identification numbers, produced fake license plates and sold the stolen vehicles to Spanish and French car dealers as well as online.
Several house searches were carried out in the region of Madrid, Spain. With the evidence gathered during the operation, French and Spanish authorities and Europol now hope to recover more vehicles stolen by this organized crime organization.
