‘Daring’ theft at the Solihull, UK plant in full-view of CCTV cameras... and it's happened before.
In a quiet and swift operation, a gang of criminals raided the Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing plant in Solihull, in England’s West Midlands, and made away with up to £5-mil in engines and car parts, the Birmingham Mail reports.
The theft took place in the early hours on the morning of February 1st, and had been kept quiet by JLR management while they look into the matter. Working closely with Solihull police, the matter was made public in a statement by the local police department.
The West Midlands Police has appealed for information to the “large scale theft of Jaguar Land Rover engines,” and JLR themselves have posted a reward for information on the heist. In the West Midlands Police statement, it was revealed that the daring thieves used an articulated lorry (also believed to be stolen) to enter the Solihull facility through its D1 gate, which was fully-staffed with security personnel. Within six minutes of entering the site, the lorry cab was hitched up to a “fully loaded wagon” containing up to 40 engines, before leaving the site in less than 10 minutes.
Curiously, the thieves were said to have supplied all the correct paperwork when transporting the engines out of the plant. After the quick first go, they returned again later that night and made away with another wagon full of JLR engines. Initial reports stated that the value of the stolen engines were in the region of £3-million, but new information revealed that the loss incurred may have been more like £5-million, which translates to roughly $8-million in our money.
After having made away with the engines, it is believed that the merchandise was offloaded from the wagons somewhere in Coventry, and the wagons themselves have already been recovered. In a surprising revelation, it seems that an identical heist was carried out three years ago, with the thieves making away with £1-million in brand-new engines. Five were arrested for that incident, and convicted in court about a year ago.
There’s a certain irony that this theft was at Jaguar Land Rover, with the former marque establishing its link with the thieving set in the 1950s when the Mark I became the preferred getaway car of choice for many a baddie. Stay tuned to CarShowroom as we follow this story.
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