Lamborghini worth £220k among stolen supercars returned to UK after police bust Thai smuggling ring

Police have unveiled a treasure trove of stolen luxury cars that have finally been recovered eight years after they were fraudulently acquired in Britain and shipped to Thailand.

The haul of 30 vehicles worth £6.5m - including a £220,000 Lamborghini Huracan Spyder - is now set to be reunited with their lawful owners after detectives smashed an international smuggling ring.

Mercedes, Porches and a Ford Mustang were among those recovered in what police described as a 'sophisticated' finance fraud. Detectives revealed that the Thai mastermind of the operation - who police are not naming - worked in conjunction with 13 of his fellow citizens to orchestrate the extensive criminal enterprise.

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Four UK citizens were part of the scam, obtaining 35 cars - some of which had been requested on order - on finance from dealerships in England between 2016 and 2017, before they were exported to Thailand to then sell in legitimate dealerships.

Operation Titanium, carried out by the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS), began after being alerted during an inspection of a container at Southampton Port where four stolen Mercedes were discovered.

This prompted a wider search, where it was found other UK vehicles stolen via finance fraud were heading to Bangkok by the same person. The NaCVIS then overcame local issues of different time zones, language barriers and disputes over ownership with buyers in Thailand, to return 30 of the cars to the UK and prosecute those responsible.

Sharon Naughton, Head of NaVCIS, said of the Southampton port search: "This was the pivot point that then led us to working with the Thai authorities and national crime agencies to uncover what was a whole criminal enterprise.

"We identified a number of these vehicles had been transported to Bangkok via air freight. Within a week, some of these vehicles had already been obtained dishonestly via the dealership and were already en route.

"For me, it was our business as usual looking at containers, that led us into air freight. Whereby these cars were then heading to dealerships to enter legitimate commercial transactions in Thailand, where the offenders would get 100 per cent profit on these cars."

She said the ringleader had committed fraud from the point they were 'purchased', by undervaluing the vehicles to import them to Thailand and paying less excise duty than required. He then made profit selling them in his 'sophisticated scam'.

Police today revealed the mastermind behind the operation is currently in prison in his home country, awaiting trial. Meanwhile, four arrests were made in the UK but no charges were brought.

The Lamborghini Huracan Spyder - which had racked up 8,000 miles - will be returned to the owner, who runs a company which rents out supercars. The remainder are being returned to the respective dealerships they were taken from.

Sharon Naughton, Head of NaVCIS, continued: "The person was a private individual who was renting cars. To lose a valuable asset really hurt him and his business personally.

"This is not a victimless crime. We are so pleased we can return that and also we're really pleased all of our members from the banking and finance industry are getting their assets back."

Nick Dawson, an Intelligence Development Officer, who works on the ports, said: "It's quite a special case. It's not often we get them all back."

Intranee Sumawong, who is Thailand's senior public prosecutor at the International Affairs Department, said Thai nationals especially liked cars from the UK as they drive on the same side of the road. They love to own high-value cars," she said.

"It's a very big market in Thailand for these cars as it's something to show off status in Thailand. The victims have been remedied," she said. All 30 vehicles were brought back by sea, bringing the eight-year investigation to an end.

Operation Titanium marks another successful outcome for NaVCIS which recently saw 16 members of an organised crime group convicted of the theft of 100 cars valuing £1.2million.

Ms Naughton added: "Anybody can be a victim of vehicle crime. This investigation shows that NaVCIS will not rest until every avenue of investigation has been exhausted. There is no time limit on our efforts to disrupt criminality and return proceeds obtained through illegal means."