CITS PARTNERS HELP DISMANTLE FOUR ORGANISED CRIMINAL GANGS
On the 4th May 2021, with support from local prosecutors and help from the UK CITS partners NaVCIS, a police operation was carried out in north eastern Romania. The operation was targeting four different criminal groups, and involved 119 searches in 19 local regional areas. The authorities believed the gangs were responsible for stealing and transporting agricultural and construction machinery across international borders, and creating false documentation.
It is believed that these organised criminal networks that originated within Vrancea County (eastern Romania), were involved in stealing agricultural and construction machinery from across Europe including the UK, Austria, Belgium and Italy.
The machines were stolen and then had their identities comprehensively changed to represent genuine machines. These were then sold on to unsuspecting customers via a variety of on line sales platforms. The level of professionalism was so great that only Police forensic experts were able to identify their true provenance.
As a result of the operation, 57 suspects were arrested and pending charges. A large volume of equipment was identified at scene as belonging to a number of British companies who had previously been victims of theft in the UK.
