This National Police Alicante unit was dissolved after continuing operations in Guardamar, Aspe, and Elche, targeting a Polish gang that specialized in stealing cars using gadgets and electronics designed to hijack vehicles in under a minute. During the investigation, a victim who was a titled judge of the Alicante court appeared in the proceedings, and authorities say the probe into the Illegal Vehicle Smuggling Group of the Provincial Judicial Police Brigade remains active.
Investigators have detained three individuals of Polish origin, one in Guardamar and another in Elche, for allegedly committing similar offenses in their homeland. So far, four vehicle thefts have been uncovered and two cars recovered. Authorities believe the suspects were involved in many more thefts, as engines and parts of other vehicles showed tampering during searches in Elche, Aspe, and Guardamar.
The arrests, carried out at the end of last July, followed a lengthy police operation that began after a vehicle was stolen in Alicante during the previous summer. Agents from the Illegal Traffic Group of Alicante Vehicles initiated the inquiry and located the reported car at a residence in Torrellano, where it was already being stripped for parts.
three first arrests
The vehicle was examined by experts from the Provincial Scientific Police Brigade and a Colombian man was fingerprinted and taken into custody. Police later identified and arrested two more Colombians, and multiple tools were used to carry out the robberies, including jammers, key duplicators, and lock pick sets. During searches, agents also seized 110 grams of cocaine intended for street sale and another stolen vehicle.
The investigation did not end with the arrest of these three individuals. Authorities found additional anonymous fingerprints on stolen vehicles and continued the search to identify others involved in the upper tier of the car-theft operation.
Anonymous fingerprints did not appear in national databases, but international police cooperation enabled investigators to identify a Polish national with a criminal record in both his home country and Germany for offenses linked to international trafficking.
Once identified, agents focused on locating this man, who had traveled widely and took extensive security measures to avoid capture. A European arrest warrant was issued to secure his extradition to Poland. He was alleged to belong to a criminal organization involved in vehicle theft that Polish authorities have been examining since 2021.
In addition to this fugitive, Alicante Police uncovered a Guardamar del Segura resident and two workshops where the organization reportedly operated before the split.
surveillance
The suspects were placed under surveillance and, by the end of July, the operative phase of the investigation began. Agents detained three suspects and conducted four entries and searches with authorization from a court in Elche, Aspe, and Guardamar del Segura. The recordings align with a recent theft of a high-end vehicle in Alicante, leading investigators to believe the suspect is tied to the criminal network under scrutiny.
The surprise discovery was that one of the salvaged cars belonged to the very Alicante supervisor who had overseen the inquiry for the previous year. As a result, the judge in charge will recuse himself in favor of another court to continue the case.
During the searches, authorities recovered two stolen vehicles, including one taken the day before the operation, and seized a large amount of advanced gadgets and electronics used in vehicle theft, such as boot devices, frequency jammers, various brands of vehicles, key cloners specifically for luxury models, numerous fake license plates, cash, documents, 3,840 euros in cash, and a simulated weapon.
Three Polish men aged between 37 and 51 were arrested and charged with vehicle theft, document falsification, and membership in a criminal organization. They were placed in pre-trial detention and referred to the protective courts of Torrevieja and Novelda. One detainee was also presented to the Central Education Court of the National Court, which authorized extradition to Poland.
The case illustrates how a tightly organized crew used sophisticated tools to target high-value vehicles, and how cross-border policing can disrupt such networks through collaborative investigations across jurisdictions. (Citation: Alicante Police press materials).