Balkans car stealing mafia

Transcription

1 Balkans car stealing mafia In the aftermath of the fall of Iron curtain and falling of Yugoslavia the Balkans have become a favorable for growing criminal activities of any kind. The years of constant turbulence where used to generate one of the best-created networks of organized crime. Smuggling drugs, weapons, people, cigarettes and everything that is profitable and illegal is traveling through the secret passages created by the Balkan mafia. One of the best black businesses which origins are from the Balkans and which spread around Europe is car-stealing mafia. Well-organized criminals are stealing more than cars only in the Balkans and earn more than 100 million euro. Bottomless well for stolen cars Beside the continuous commitment of the police and customs authorities in Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, fighting with car stealing mafia is very difficult. Numbers of stolen cars are increasing every year. Expectations that after the entrance of Bulgaria in EU the car stealing mafia will find other sources for money income proved to be wrong. Stealing cars is too worthy to be left just like that. Interpol and the European insurance companies in 2008 came out with calculation for cars stolen in EU and located in the countries of former Yugoslavia. According estimation made by the German federal police BKA around cars stolen in the EU have been smuggled in the Balkans. If transformed in money these stolen cars are reaching more than 3 billion euro s revenue for the mafia. This is only a part of the mega black business of the car stealing mafia operating throughout Europe and making around 30 billion euro s every year. Interpol exactly knows how many stolen cars from Europe are located in the Balkans and in countries of former Yugoslavia. First country on the black list is Montenegro where more than stolen cars have been located. On the second place is Bosnia and Herzegovina with around cars stolen. Third is Kosovo with around cars stolen in EU States. The remaining cars from the large number of cars are located in Macedonia, Serbia and very small amount in Croatia.

2 Where stolen cars go? Although cars from EU are often target of the car stealing mafia, criminals do not hesitate to steal cars in the Balkans to. If the stolen car is not intended to stay in the Balkan countries, the mafia is smuggling the car in two directions. The first smuggling route is going through Serbia and Bulgaria all the way to Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The other smuggling route is going to Russia, Moldavia, and Chechnya. Serbia is the main transit center. Cars that are stolen in Europe or in the countries of former Yugoslavia are transiting through Serbia. The route is going through the border crossings with Bulgaria all the way to the harbors on the Black Sea where stolen cars are boarding on ship and leaving for Asia or the countries of former Soviet Union. The cars from Serbia to Bulgaria are smuggled across the illegal border crossings or across legal border crossing with false documents after changing the vehicle identification number and serial number of the engine. Than near Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Varna, cities that are known as the centers of the car stealing mafia in Bulgaria, criminals print new false documents and registration plate. These false documents are identical to documents issued in the countries of the EU and the differences are very difficult for noticing. In Damascus the capital city of Syria, largest second hand car market in the Middle East is located. Customers there are looking for good merchandise and nobody asks for the origin of the car. In Damascus, on car market, luxurious cars, cars from the middle class like Volkswagen Passat, and compact cars as well VW Golf, Opel Astra and Renault Megane can be find. Cars that are intent to be smuggle in Afghanistan are usually intended for Afghan heroin producers. Because of the bad road network, they are looking for luxury terrain vehicles like Mercedes ML, Mercedes GL or Mercedes G Class, BMW X5, Volkswagen Touareg, or Porsche Cayenne. They do not pay in cash for the vehicles. They are paying with heroin. Then mafia is selling heroin in other European countries making more money out of it. This speaks that mafia is not divided, on the contrary. The mafia is united. Interaction between criminals also involves people from the police and customs, which classify these criminal activities in organized crime. The same people who are involved in other criminal activities are also involved in stealing cars. Good drivers who are priority among the car thieves are often use for transfer drugs in fast cars through previously determined routes secured by the corrupted policemen s. The organized mafia, which is operating in Macedonia and Kosovo, is giving its helper s stolen cars as a reward. These cars are driven on the streets of both countries every day. Cooperation between criminal groups is on a very high level. Criminals don t care about religion or nationality. They only care about money. Cars stolen in one

3 country ends up in the neighbor country that is the most suitable variant for reselling the already stolen cars. The routes where cars end, after they are stolen are as follows: Cars stolen in Macedonia are smuggled to Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria where criminals can make false documents very easy. Cars stolen in Serbia are smuggled to Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro. Cars stolen in Bosnia and Herzegovina are smuggled to Serbian entity territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. This countries orbit around Serbia and that is the reason why Serbia is the main transit center for smuggling cars. Most of the stolen cars are smuggled in Albania through Kosovo because of the open connections between these two countries and many illegal border crossings. Very small amount of the stolen cars are smuggled in Albania through Macedonia or Montenegro. Stealing for reselling Criminals operate very fast when they are stealing a car. Well trained car thief need only 30 seconds to steal VW Touareg. It is very fast but there is a period of preparation before stealing a car. This is very important. Logistics is very strength point of the car stealing mafia, because stolen vehicle in the end need to be sold to a new owner as a legal purchased car. A massive organization is needed. Car stealing mafia has strong logistic in police and customs structures which are often on their pay list. The assignments in the car stealing mafia are divided. One group is dedicated to mark the vehicles and to learn the habits of the owner, others are actual car thieves, third group works in illegal services and changes the vehicle identification numbers, fourth group is dedicated to make false documents, and fifth group should smuggle and then resell the car. Modern car thieves usually find easy ways how to steal the car. Couple of years ago suddenly allot of BMW X5 started missing in the Balkans. Mafia was not stealing only registered vehicles from their owners on the street. They also stole many brand new BMW X5s in front of the BMW saloons. Suddenly missing of these expensive vehicles was notice from the directors of BMW in Munich to. It was panic attack because the latest advanced protection technology suddenly was broke down. The investigation show that the cars where opened with the original keys ordered from unknown BMW dealer. The codes for starting the engine where broken down by the original manufacturer software with price tag of Euros which the car mafia managed to get from an employee of BMW.

4 Once stolen cars are taken to the specialized auto services where people change the vehicle identification numbers and the serial number of the engine. After that, the car is ready to become legal one. What is the principle of legalizing stolen car? The car mafia seeks for wrecked cars with legal documents and stamps the numbers from the wrecked car on the stolen one. Usually they wait for the right car also matching the color to avoid painting. Sometimes criminals find wrecked car with legal documents and then steal a car that matches to the wrecked one. When the stolen car is turned in to a legal one, it s very difficult to find out that the car is illegal. The criminals are often in a hurry and that is why they turn the stolen car in to a vehicle clone. For this they need help from corrupted policemen. They give data to the criminals from identical vehicle that is already registered in the database. After that, the criminals change the numbers of the chassis and engine, and made false registration license and registration plates for the stolen car - vehicle clone of the legal car. The usual price for this kind of information is 500 to Euros depending of the car value. After that stolen car is crossing border without a problem and the car is sold in other countries. The same procedure is use for the cars that are stolen in Europe and brought to Balkans. Not only stolen cars with already false document cross borders. Secret passages are used all the time. Sometimes the vehicle cross border immediately after has been stolen. Mafia uses corrupted police and custom structures on the border passes. They do not enter the vehicle in the daily logbook and the stolen car crosses the border freely. The usual price for this kind of favor is 300 or 400 Euros. Stealing cars in the countries of European Union, especially in recent years after strengthening the control on the border crossings because of the threat of the global terrorism, has raised the risk for the car thieves. But this does not mean that the car stealing mafia is pulling back. The new era brings different tactics. From recently in the EU countries criminals do not steal cars, they negotiate with owners buying the car of for reasonable price and then cross the border legally with the car. When the car was safely brought to some of the Balkan countries, criminals inform the owner. Then the owner goes to the police and reports that his car has been stolen. After that, owner collects the money from the insurance company. Then criminals sell the vehicle on the markets in the Balkans as legal, or the car is send to the countries of Middle East or in the countries of the former Soviet Union. There is even simpler variant of this crime. The owner brings the car in the countries of former Yugoslavia, Albania or Bulgaria and delivers to the mafia. Then there is no risk been caught crossing the border and the only side that suffers from this kind of crime is insurance company. However, as soon as insurance companies realized

5 the scam they stop issuing full car insurance for the countries of former Yugoslavia and Albania. Decision did not discourage the mafia. The cooperation between the mafia gangs became even closer. Why? Because Bulgaria is EU country and insurance companies are still issuing full car insurance for the cars that are being stolen on Bulgaria territory. Knowing this, criminals from the former Yugoslavia countries and Albania call the colleagues in Bulgaria. Criminals in Bulgaria through their connections in police department are able to get a document where stands that the car has been stolen in Bulgaria. This kind of favor costs 500 Euros. After that, the owner is able to collect the money from the insurance company and the mafia is reselling the car. Obviously, the criminals are not short of the ideas. There are even better schemes. Two criminals as tourists go to some EU country. One of them stays in the hotel and there he rents a car. The other one takes the car and bring it in the Balkans. The criminal who is still staying in the hotel, reports to the police that the car has been stole from the parking in front of some big shopping center. Blackmail for un-reasonable price Asking for a payoff for a stolen car is also very often criminal practice. After stealing (or hi-jacking) the car, criminals start to blackmail the owner to pay the ransom. These methods were initially developed in Bulgaria on the beginning of 90s but fast this practice spread in surrounding countries. This kidnapping of cars is functioning on following way: The car mafia is choosing a car usually new and very expensive vehicle. After that, the car and the owner are followed and criminals are waiting for the right chance when owner forgets the car open or even better with started engine. The other way is when the car stops on the red traffic light. Criminals then with their car hit the chosen car deliberately from behind. In this situation owner usually leaves the car with engine on, or, if he turn the engine of, the key is still in the lock. When he goes behind the car to see what happened, one from the group gets on the driver seat and goes away leaving the owner with short hands. Once car is once stolen the Mafia is hiding car, and they call the owner and blackmail him to pay the requested amount to get car back. Requested amounts are usually around to Euros depending of the value of the car and can go up to 30% of the price of a new car. To make a contact with the owner of the car, mafia is using information given to them from the corrupted police officers, and from the corrupted workers in the telecommunication companies. After the owner has been contacted the mafia is giving him instructions where to

6 bring the money and he is advised not to call the police because he will never see his car again. Places for drop of the money are well chosen with multiple routes to escape in a case of a problem. After the owner left the money, criminal on the phone tells him where the car is. In the most of the cases owner don t contact the police, because it s easier for him to pay the ransom then to pay for a new car again. But the police advices that not reporting for the stolen car is the wrong move, because there are many cases when the mafia is not giving the car back after the owner has already pay the ransom. They resell the car, or the car has been take a part. Then the parts are used for another car of the same type and the purpose is to change the vehicle identification numbers and the serial number on engine and make the car suitable for reselling with new false documents. They also adapt the numbers of a stolen car according documents of a wrecked car previously found in another country and through a false invoice make import as legal car. The parts from the dismantle car also ends up in the big markets for used cars and car parts. There are number of suspicious auto services using car parts from the stolen cars. They give their services to the car owners for half of the price in the authorized service. Owners are happy because they do not have to pay a lot for a car part. They usually know that the car part mounted on their vehicle is illegal but they do not care. Besides the expensive cars, in these part of operations of the car stealing mafia are cheaper popular models like Golf from the first, second and third generation, some Opel models and also Zastava 128/101 and Yugo. It is widely known that the homo-kinetic joint for the first generation Golf in the store costs around 100 Euros, plus the expenses for montage. However, in the suspicious services one can get this part for 50 Euros with the montage. Short hands of the Police Police structures have a good knowledge about the black business and the ways that stealing mafia operates. There is no secret that in Macedonia the most cars are stolen in Skopje. Statistics tells that every 48 hours a luxury car has been stolen in Skopje. Center where most of the stolen cars end up is Grchec - village near Skopje. The closeness of the border with Kosovo and Serbia enables very quick leaving Macedonian territory. Parts from the stolen dismantle cars ends up in the suspicious services in the villages Arachinovo,

7 Trubarevo, Drachevo all of them near Skopje. Well-trained criminals in Macedonia can dismantle the whole car in under two hours says police. In Serbia most of the cars are stolen in Belgrade. Serbian police have knowledge about all criminal groups in the country. The most active are Zemun Clan, Surchin Clan and the car stealing mafia clan from Novi Pazar. Every day only in Belgrade there are several dozens of stolen cars. Among the luxury cars, there are cars stolen for dismantling and cars stolen and used for other criminal activities. After the criminal activity has been done the car is left on the road. Stolen cars are usually transited to Bulgaria and Romania through the vast network of illegal border crossings. Some of them go to Kosovo across illegal border crossing that goes from Novi Pazar thru the place called Novopazarska Banja. Police structures in Serbia claims that some of the stolen cars do not leave the country at all. In Bosnia and Herzegovina police forces are lately taking a lot of actions against the well organized car stealing mafia. But even despite this actions every year there are around cars are stolen in this country. Serbia has larger number of stolen cars every year and the average is around According operational data of the police structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina stolen cars are often keep in place for a couple of days because of the ransom asked from the blackmailed owners. If the owner refuses to pay, the car is moved to the West- Herzegovina Canton, where the criminals change the vehicle identification numbers or the car has been dismantled and used for car parts. How to fight against auto mafia Recognizing the problem with the car thieves and knowing about the operations of the car stealing mafia, does not mean that this kind of criminal activities can be solve. The truth is that the police structures in the Balkan countries can find less than half of the stolen cars. Despite the work of the police structures in Balkan countries statistics say that in average there are no more than 40% solved cases in the Balkans every year. One of the reasons why is like that lies in the corrupted individuals in the police and custom structures. Fact is that some of them are in the very high positions. The other reason lies in the archaic criminal law. In Macedonian Criminal Laws, the vehicle is considered stolen after the period since vehicle been reported missing. That period is not precisely stated in the law, but police practice says that this unknown period is around one month. In this period, the vehicle is referred as missing. This reference counts for the

8 vehicles stolen just for driving around and after that left by the road. Further way, if the missed vehicle is not returned to the owner in this period, or, if it is find out that the vehicle has been taken away with intention to make unlawful profit, only then, the vehicle is considered stolen. The punishment for this crime is maximum three years in jail, but in realty the fines are much smaller and most of the time the criminal just have to pay. In the end this small fines are more encouraging than intimidating for the criminals. This law is a derivate of the law made in the former Yugoslavia when the cars were mostly stolen for spending a good time at night and after that they were left by the road, or there where cases when the car was left on the same parking where it was originally stolen from. The problem with the law is same in other countries from the former Yugoslavia. For example: Serbian criminal law for stealing a car refers as unauthorized use of the vehicle owned by other people, which is similar to Macedonian criminal law. Anterfile: Gone in 30 seconds Car thieves are not magicians, but they know how to make Volkswagen Touareg disappear in 30 seconds. This is not a movie, this is reality and is twice as fast as the car stealing shown in the blockbuster Gone in 60 seconds with Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie in the leading role. After the vehicle has been marked by the scout in the group whose assignment is to follow and learn the habits of the owner and realize when is the best time to steal his car, the car thieves came on the scene. They always go in pairs. While the one is working, the other is keeping guard and if there is a need to provide help. The car thieves are well-trained professionals with serious knowledge of modern electronics and mechanics. The car thief cuts through the metal of the right back door of the Touareg under the doorknob. Right there leads the main electrical duct who brings electricity for the fuel pump located in the reservoir, electricity for the power windows and central locking. Then with the sharp knife or scalpel cuts through the electrical wires making a short circuit and after that the central locking system unlock the doors. For this part of the operation, the thief only needs 10 seconds. Then he enters in the vehicle and connects his laptop to the main jack that auto mechanics are using to make a diagnosis of the car. With specialized software he starts the engine and leaves the scene with the Touareg. For this part of the operation, the thief needs 20 seconds. The same scheme is used when stealing Porsche Cayenne, a vehicle who shares the same platform with Volkswagen Touareg. Bad examples for the criminals

9 Fighting against car stealing mafia is going to be very difficult until government structures in the Balkans are using stolen cars for their needs. Evidence says: -Montenegro police forces are using large number of cars as well as few buses that are on wanted on Interpol; -Police and Federal Ministry of Defense in Bosnia and Herzegovina also have cars, terrain vehicles and busses reported as stolen from Interpol; -In Bulgaria there are examples of mayors baying stolen cars with the municipality money. -In Macedonia judges from the Appellate Court have been driving in a stolen Peugeot 405 for almost a decade. Then the car was sold to a private person but nobody knew that the car is stolen. When that person went to Bulgaria on a holiday the police on the border crossing check the car and found that Interpol wanted the car. -The most exposed case was when the media find out that the Macedonian Minister of Interior, Gordana Jankulovska is driving in a stolen BMW X5 who belong to the football megastar David Beckham. According data s Beckhams BMW X5 was stolen in Spain and before Macedonian police impound it, the car have changed 20 owners. It was very difficult to prove if the car belongs to Beckham. Any way minister Jankulovksa have shown understanding and point out if Beckham himself ask for the car to be returned, she will personally hand down the keys.