Thirty sports cars stolen by an international fraud ring have been reunited with their owners in one of the biggest operations of its kind in the UK. Police recovered the luxury vehicles - worth £6.5million in total, with one alone costing £220,000 when new - from Thailand and brought them back to our shores.
The seven-year probe, named Operation Titanium, began when officers seized four stolen Mercedes cars from a container at Southampton Port. READ MORE: Thief employs classic switch move to steal £200,000 ring from Tiffany store Peter Duncan, who ran one of the companies that unwittingly transported the vehicles, said: "This is probably the biggest single block repatriation of cars in the UK, definitely the biggest I have ever seen. "It's a great feeling to get these cars back into the UK, especially to get them back to the people who rightfully own them.
"I'm happy to have them home in an operation where we have learnt a lot and improved a lot off the back of it." NaVCIS Ports Officer Steve Poole standing with one of the cars the operation recovered, a green Lamborghini Huracan Spyder. (Image: Newsquest) In 2017, it is believed four UK nationals fraudulently financed 35 cars using forged documents, often using their own details.
Within a week of getting the keys, the cars were illegally exported to Thailand via shipping containers, which block tracker alarm signals, or unwitting air freight companies, and then sold to innocent customers. Peter Duncan's company, the Surr.