The Guardia Civil and the Municipal Police of Madrid, within the framework of a joint operation called “Sawara”, have proceeded to arrest 3 people and investigate another 3, belonging to a criminal organisation dedicated to vehicle theft, for their subsequent handling, breaking, and export through seaports to the African continent.
In the operation, material used to erase chassis numbers and tools for cutting and cloning keys and makeup of chassis, in addition to frequency inhibitors and blank vehicle documentation, have been seized.
Likewise, 18 motorcycles and a car that had been stolen have been recovered. It is estimated that the organisation would have obtained a profit of about 500,000 euro from the theft of the vehicles.
The operation began at the beginning of this year, when the investigators learned that a group of people could be engaged in the theft of vehicles throughout the Community of Madrid to later break them up and export them to Africa.
Continuing with the investigations, the agents were able to verify that a first echelon of the organisation was in charge of locating the motorcycles they needed, according to the demand, regardless of make and model.
Subsequently, they were introduced into a warehouse where they were disassembled into pieces. Once they had enough motorcycles, they were transferred to a warehouse located in the southern area of Madrid, where they were placed in containers, covering the front part with pieces that they acquired in scrapyards to give the appearance of legality.
The container was then mounted on the semi-trailer of a truck and transferred to a seaport, usually Valencia, where it was transported by ship to the African continent.
For this reason, on May 15, two homes in Pinto and Fuenlabrada and three other buildings, in towns in Madrid and Toledo, were entered and searched for the storage of the stolen motorcycles and the arrest of those involved.
The detainees and those involved are charged with the alleged crimes of theft of motor vehicles, false documents, reception, usurpation of marital status, smuggling and belonging to a criminal group.
The operation has been carried out by the Central Research and Analysis Group of the Guardia Civil Traffic Group (GIAT Central), and the CID of the Municipal Police of Hortaleza (Madrid) and have had the support of the USECIC Teams and SEPRONA of the Madrid and Toledo Commands and the El Pardo Canine Unit and by the Madrid Municipal Police, the Air Support Section, the Hortaleza District Police Station and the Central Security Police Station (UCS).
