Romania Border Police: No. Of Stolen Cars Tracked At Border Doubled In First 2 Mos ‘10

Border police officers stressed that Italy remains the main supplier of stolen cars transiting Romania. Car theft rings mainly include Romanians, Moldovans and Bulgarians, they are well-organized and operate from Western European towards Eastern European countries, the press release reads.

Since the beginning of the year, border police officers have tracked down 18 cars, 36 luxury cars, four freight vehicles, two industrial machines, two minibuses and one motorcycle, which had been declared stolen in Romania and abroad.

In 2009, a total 198 stolen cars were tracked down by border police.

Romanian police officers have teamed up with counterparts in European Union member states in order to smash car theft rings, by exchanging information via border Contact Centers.

Car thieves mainly targeted luxury cars, namely Chrysler, Mercedes and BMW and middle class cars, namely Fiat, Opel, Seat, etc. Beside cars, they also steal forest or farming machinery which they transport using fake documents.

In January and February this year, border police officers tracked down two industrial machines worth over EUR200,000, which were stolen from abroad. Last year, 22 industrial machines worth over EUR2.5 million were stolen.

Car thieves usually operate on routes from Western European towards Eastern European countries, mainly via Italy – Austria – Hungary – Romania, Germany – Austria – Hungary – Moldova and Ukraine, as well as Italy – Serbia – Romania -the Republic of Moldova – Ukraine or the Russian Federation.