UK police recovered $1.3 million worth of supercars from secret ‘chop shop’

Police in Essex, UK, uncovered $1.3 million worth of supercars from a criminal chop shop.

The stolen cars ranged from Ferraris to Bentleys.

The gang’s secret workshop stripped the supercars and sold them for their parts.

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The chop shop

Essex Police’s Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit revealed images of the moment in 2023 they uncovered the ‘chop shop’.

Inside, they recovered stolen supercars that had been stripped for their parts.

The specialist unit amped up efforts to bring down criminal gangs targeting luxury cars.

“Our work is dedicated to the disruption of organized criminal gangs and we make sure car thieves are never comfortable in Essex,” specialist officer, PC Paul Gerrish, said.

“We aim to make this a hostile county for car thieves to operate in.

“Our work stretches beyond recovering individual stolen cars and encompasses the wider network of criminality behind each theft.

“Every year, we track down more stolen vehicles and as we do, we build up a bigger and better intelligence picture.”

The stolen supercars

Over the space of a few months, the specialist police unit, comprising of husband and wife duo Hannah Gerrish and PC Paul Gerrish and PC Phil Pentelow, was able to reunite some special cars with their rightful owners.

These included a Rolls Royce, a Bentley Bentayga, and several Range Rovers.

They’d also been able to locate and recover Ferraris and Aston Martins.

The unit recovered $15.4 million in stolen cars in 12 months via 15 chop shops and 50 shipping containers of stolen vehicles and parts.

They were probably destined to be transported to the Middle East or Africa.

The crime wave

While car thefts leaped by 25 percent in 2022, the team’s work saw a fall of 8.5 percent between April and June 2024.

A method called keyless car theft, also known as relay theft including two or more people, is used.

It allows thieves to take luxury vehicles without physically damaging them.

This is done via electronic key fobs and a device called a keyless repeater, which extends their range.

Criminals are able to do this standing outside a house with a car parked outside.

It tricks the car into thinking the key fob is closer than it is.

Then thieves can remotely unlock the car and take them.

Thieves can then sell, strip, or ship the car to where they can get the most bang for their buck.

By obtaining false identities, thieves can distribute stolen cars within the UK.

“Our work doesn’t just encompass the recovery of high-end cars,” PC Pentelow said.

“Our dismantling of chop shops and our intelligence-led work takes into consideration vehicles of all values and types.

“We are very aware that victims rely on their vehicles as far more than a mode of transport.

“In most cases your car is the second-highest value purchased item in your life, and people work hard to get them.

“We do not accept when criminals show no care or consideration for this fact.

“We also find it unacceptable when these criminals happily put other members of the public at risk by using these stolen vehicles on public roads.”

Meanwhile, Hyundai’s anti-theft update has reduced vehicle thefts by 64 percent.

Unlike the Cybertruck, which routinely stops would-be-thieves in their tracks, these cars don’t have these high-tech anti-theft features.

Cars from the two automakers have parts worth stealing, like the Kia EV 9’s wheels and the extensive interior inside modern Hyundais.