Cars stolen from Premier League footballers found in shipping containers

Police in Essex recently tracked down and returned cars belonging to two Premier League footballers in England.

The recovered Ferrari Roma and Range Rover Sport are among the 517 vehicles or parts of vehicles – with a combined value of more than £16 million – that the ‘Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit’ of Essex Police has recovered so far in 2023.

The footballers, who are said to have more than 100 international caps between them, had their cars stolen in neighbouring counties.

The unit located the vehicles in shipping containers scheduled to travel to Dubai from London Gateway Port in Thurrock.

Once a car is taken, Essex Police says thieves may look to quickly sell it on – even for way under the market value – strip it for parts, or ship either the whole car or parts of the car to areas including the Middle East and Africa. There, the vehicles can be sold for two or three times more than they would cost in the UK.

Thieves or handlers of the stolen vehicles may also obtain false or cloned identities, then sell the vehicles on to unsuspecting members of the public in the UK or distribute them to other criminals, according to Essex Police.