A recent study has revealed that the surge in car thefts across the United Kingdom is being fuelled by organised crime gangs specialising in stealing vehicles to smuggle and resell them abroad, including in Russia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The report, published Thursday by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, highlights how criminals are increasingly employing advanced vehicle theft technology to operate a sophisticated “stolen to order” system, particularly targeting high-end cars.
According to government data, vehicle thefts in the UK have surged by 75 per cent over the past decade, reversing a long-term decline.
These criminals use expensive, high-tech devices—sometimes costing over £20,000—that enable rapid thefts and the masking or alteration of vehicle identities. One police officer quoted in the report described how stolen cars could be relocated to another county and fitted with cloned number plates before the theft was even reported.
The study details how many vehicles are stolen, loaded onto transport, and shipped out of the UK within a day. Common destinations include Cyprus, Georgia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Once abroad, the stolen cars frequently end up at second-hand dealerships or scrapyards, from where they are further distributed across the Middle East, North Africa, and as far as Russia, with some cars reportedly reappearing on the streets of Moscow.
The number of domestic vehicle thefts in the UK rose to 136,396 in 2022-23, a significant jump from the 2013-14 figures.
Meanwhile, the proportion of cases resulting in criminal charges has fallen from 9.2 per cent to just 2.6 per cent. This decline in enforcement is partly attributed to police funding cuts, which have drastically reduced specialised vehicle crime units. For instance, London’s Metropolitan Police has seen its vehicle-crime investigative team shrink from nearly triple digits to only a handful of officers.
The report criticises UK policing authorities for largely neglecting the international aspect of car theft, particularly the monitoring of outgoing cargo suspected of containing stolen vehicles.
