The liquidation of the criminal organization and the detention of four people – three men 63, 53 and 35 years old and a 25-year-old woman – who committed car thefts and their further disposal either in whole or in the form of spare parts, the police said.

The criminal organization was allegedly created at the end of November 2021 with the aim of stealing cars with high commercial demand from areas of Attica, transporting them to Thessaloniki and further distributing them to various parts of Greece.

According to a police investigation, the cars were removed from the Attica area by a member of the organization, and then her 63-year-old “brain” was transported to Athens either alone or with his 25-year-old daughter, and after receiving them, he moved them to a specially designed and equipped area, to the spare parts warehouse that he maintains in the Thessaloniki area. There, two of his accomplices immediately set about cutting off various parts on which the chassis numbers of the seized vehicles were written.

Characteristic features of the modus operandi of this criminal group were the use of technological methods to bypass modern anti-theft systems, the use of electronic jamming devices to bypass any geolocation systems (GPS) that the stolen cars had, the transport of stolen cars. from Athens to Thessaloniki by taking heightened self-protection measures such as using one’s own license plates matching the same make as the stolen cars, using phone connections (changing regularly) claimed in the names of others such as “straw dummies” and using coded phraseology during conversations.

It was found that the alleged perpetrators managed to steal 39 cars from different areas of Attica for a total estimated value of around 392,000 euros.

During searches of the homes of members of the organization, as well as with them, a pepper spray, a firearm with a magazine and 49 cartridges for it, a metal imitation – a dummy of a weapon, small in size with a magazine, two obviously fakes were found. and confiscated police ID cards with the details of other persons and pasted photographs of two arrested persons, three seals of doctors, nineteen pairs of glasses, the legal possession of which is being investigated, the amount of money 6,215 euros, a notepad, handwritten notes with links to car license plates and location, various mobile phones, advanced tools to bypass car anti-theft systems, car jump starters, metal car key cutters, silencers, car immobilizer key programming and bypass plugs, various car keys whose legal possession is under investigation, and two homemade cannabis cigarettes mixed with tobacco.

At the same time, 67 torn car engines, 1045 car doors, 53 car hoods and 55 dismembered cars with a cut off or falsified chassis number, a number of tools, car brains, keys and car immobilizers, the legal possession of which is being investigated, were found and seized at the spare parts warehouse:

In addition, four cars were confiscated as a means of committing criminal acts and five cars in order to check the legality of their movement.

As part of the investigation, the involvement of two more persons (citizens aged 64 and 35) who keep warehouses of spare parts has been established, and a criminal case has been initiated against them on the fact of receiving proceeds from crime, as two of the stolen cars were handed over to them.

Persons arrested who have been prosecuted, as the case may be, for a criminal organization, segregated cases of theft, proceeds of crime, forgery, violation of the Weapons Act, violation of the Dependent Substances Act and forgery, will be brought before the Athenian Criminal Prosecutor while investigations into their possible involvement in other criminal acts are ongoing.