An Alicante Police operation culminated in fifteen arrests and the recovery of seventeen vehicles. The extensive probe, lasting more than two and a half years, dismantled a criminal network dedicated to illegal high-end car trafficking. Members specialized in car theft and key cloning used sophisticated devices to unlock and start vehicles.
A multinational gang comprising individuals from various Eastern European countries targeted private owners and also compromised rental, leasing, and short-term rental fleets. Most stolen cars were moved to other European countries, with France named as a primary destination. Arrests occurred across several cities, including Alicante, Elche, Torrevieja, San Vicente, Madrid, and La Vila Joiosa. Among those detained in Alicante was a Latvian national holding a valid European arrest warrant for vehicle theft issued by his home authorities.
Investigators from the Illegal Vehicle Smuggling Group of the Alicante Provincial Judicial Police Brigade established that the network also supplied vehicles for rental to drug trafficking circles, while ensuring the cars belonged to rental companies.
Theft in La Vila Joiosa
The operation began in July 2020 when police recovered a luxury vehicle in Alicante reported stolen the prior month. In La Vila Joiosa, a second car with similar characteristics was stolen from a public parking area.
Further investigations revealed a highly specialized criminal operation equipped with valuable, hard-to-find technical means to steal cars. The probe also confirmed links to international vehicle trafficking and traced a flow of vehicles that positioned Spain as both a departure point and a destination. Across the span of the investigation, cars from France, Estonia, Italy, and the United Kingdom were found in Spain.
One photograph in the public record shows one of the recovered vehicles, highlighting the scale of the operation.
Alicante Police experts confirmed that the group did not limit itself to stealing vehicles directly from owners. They also obtained cars through other criminal routes such as rental and leasing schemes that were deliberately misused, with the title deeds forged outside Spain.
For vehicles stolen from individuals, the destination often involved fragmentation of the vehicle’s identity and sale on the black market, or the process known as make-up, which included registering altered cars with false documents for later sale beyond Spain, particularly in France.
Another method involved exploiting non-paying rental, leasing, and short-term contracts. This included fraud against the owner or financing company, followed by registering the vehicle in a third country using forged papers.
Network members consistently acted with careful coordination. Vehicles were not chosen at random but selected with precision. Beacons and geolocation devices were used to study owners’ routines and the theft timings. The intruders leveraged tools that could jam alarm signals and then cloned keys with advanced electronics. Police noted that although the organization dealt with different car brands, each brand required specific devices to unlock and clone its keys.
Key Cloning
After cloning the keys, the theft happened within seconds, and the cars were left to “cool down” before being moved to workshops or underground garages, often remaining parked on public roads for days. The criminals avoided leaving any obvious trace that could alert owners or law enforcement.
From there, vehicles were transported to a safe location where they were cosmetically altered to remove identifiable marks and, in some cases, re-registered with new identities. Once reconfigured and documented, the cars re-entered circulation and were sold to buyers unaware of their illicit origin.
The first two phases of the operation occurred in 2020–2021. In the first phase, two individuals were arrested and a company implicated in acquiring registered vehicles fraudulently was identified in France. The second phase targeted rental car traffic, resulting in five arrests connected to leasing the vehicles and transferring them to France under false registrations.
The third and final phase, conducted last December, targeted the broader stolen-vehicle traffic. After locating hiding places and the cars’ make-up details, eight more suspects were arrested. Searches were conducted on a farm district spanning Elche, La Marina, Alicante, Torrevieja, San Vicente, and La Vila Joiosa, recovering numerous parts and documents related to stolen cars and other passenger vehicles. Authorities also seized equipment used to steal cars, GPS trackers, and key-unlocking devices.
Profits
The investigation revealed that the network’s members earned substantial profits from vehicle sales. Proceeds from illicit car sales were used to acquire additional vehicles from abroad, with some then registered in Spain and sold, effectively laundering the proceeds of crime.
Fifteen individuals were arrested on charges including participation in a criminal organization, embezzlement, document falsification, and vehicle theft. Evidence of thefts dating from 2019 through last November was gathered, including the latest incident addressed in the operation.
In total, seventeen vehicles, numerous documents tied to other cars, tools and documents used in theft, forged keys, and around 6,500 euros in cash were seized. Similar vehicles were later recovered in other European countries, notably France, where authorities also confiscated vehicles of Spanish origin tied to the same network.