Spanish police stop 24 stolen luxury cars worth €2m from being smuggled into Europe

Authorities had been conducting research at the Port of Algeciras in southern Spain over the past year and detected a rise in high-end vehicles entering the port from the United States in shipping containers.

Daily inspections of containers entering Spain are already carried out at the container terminal in the port, but police recently introduced an “intense” operation in which they checked containers bound for African countries that were likely to be carrying stolen cars from the United States.

As a result, the Civil Guard and the Tax Agency seized a total of 24 luxury vehicles during the month of January.

The cars boasted a total market value of €2 million.

The agents have been able to confirm that the vehicles had been stolen in the United States and have since been returned to relevant authorities, who are helping with investigations.

This operation was carried out by civil guards from the Fiscal Analysis and Investigation Office (ODAIFI) and Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency (Combined Customs Surveillance Unit of Algeciras), which are both attached to the Risk Analysis Unit of the Customs of Algeciras.