Gang that stole top-end cars on the Costa del Sol and sold them abroad is busted

Guardia Civil officers have dismantled an international criminal organisation suspected of theft and modifying luxury vehicles in Italy and Spain. After stealing them, the organisation would transport the vehicles to Belgium and sell them in the UAE.

Nine people have been arrested in Italy on suspicion of stealing and modifying 90 luxury vehicles worth more than 18 million euros. Through these clandestine operations, they managed to launder more than 2.5 million euros in cryptocurrencies.

The investigation in Spain began in October 2024, following police cooperation through Europol with the Italian Carabinieri of the Reggio Emilia region.

Investigations revealed that the organisation, detected in Italy, also carried out criminal activities in several towns in the province of Malaga and that it operated with identical criminal patterns in both Italy and Spain.

The members of the network in Spain would visit different locations on the Costa del Sol in search of the most exclusive vehicles on the market. Once they selected them, they discreetly installed tracking devices, which allowed them to know the exact location of each car in real time.

After detecting that the vehicle was parked on a public road, in a communal garage or in a public car park, the members of the organisation would go to the location, generally in the early hours of the morning, and carry out the robbery. Some members were in charge of securing the perimeter, while others carried out the operation.

To do this, they would gain access to the interior of the vehicle after breaking the security systems and start the vehicle without the key. Once stolen, the car would be taken to a warehouse strategically located in the Axarquia area.

According to the Guardia Civil, this site had "sophisticated electronic counter-surveillance measures", which made it possible to hide the vehicle for as long as necessary until the perpetrators returned to Spain to alter its identifying features (license plate and chassis number) and program a new key.

The car, with its new identity, would then be taken to Antwerp (Belgium), from where it was exported to the UAE.

The criminal organisation managed to launder more than 2.5 million euros through a sophisticated financial scheme based on cryptocurrencies, taking advantage of the opacity of digital assets to hide the illicit origin of the funds. They used front men, who appeared as holders of virtual accounts, to make it difficult to trace assets.

The police operation also seized assets worth more than 3.5 million euros, including high-end vehicles, real estate, cash and digital devices.