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Big Luxury Car Theft Ring Busted In NYC
Authorities in New York City recently busted a big luxury car theft ring that was a multi-million dollar operation. Members of the ring were pretty bold, even using a parking garage as a sort of showroom for the stolen cars, allowing interested buyers to walk through and check them out before making a purchase.
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The operation of course extended beyond the Big Apple, with the thieves pilfering high-end rides like Rolls-Royces from New Jersey and Connecticut. All those stolen vehicles were brought to a parking garage in the Bronx, all without the owner of the garage suspecting a thing.
Unsurprisingly, many of the luxury cars purchased with cash were then loaded into shipping containers and snuck through customs, bound for West Africa, reports CBS News.
In the bust, authorities recovered 72 cars worth an estimated $6.6 million, plus charged eight men in New York City with crimes related to the thefts. Another eleven suspects, including one minor, were hit with charges in New Jersey the week before.
In this case, the thieves were breaking into homes to steal key fobs. We’ve observed an uptick in that trend over the last three or so years. That means as a car owner you need to beef up your home security.
Car theft is still very much a growing trend in many areas, even with big busts like this. That doesn’t mean these cases don’t matter, they do. But there are many other thieves out there ready to take over where an old theft ring was working.
That’s why you can’t just relax and stop trying to secure your vehicles. While locking your doors and not leaving the fob inside are good steps so many don’t follow, you should try parking in a secure building whenever possible, have multiple trackers on your ride, look at a pre-ignition anti-theft device, and install cameras wherever you put your car when you’re home.
Vigilance pays off and is unfortunately still very much necessary.
Image via Andrew Jimenez/Facebook Marketplace
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