Authorities say that suspects cloned the autos together with Corvettes, BMWs, a Maserati, and a Bentley in a classy theft scheme
June 28, 2023 at 19:10
The Louisville Metro Police Division is taking some enormous swings recently and it’s touchdown them too. In an investigation dubbed “Operation Havana Freeway,” it simply arrested six folks and recovered roughly 30 autos. In complete, they’re preliminarily valued at above $3,100,000.
The LMPD says that its sixth Division Impression detectives executed quite a lot of search warrants on June 19. All stemmed from a long-term investigation surrounding a legal enterprise automobile theft ring. It discovered stolen automobiles from throughout the nation along with three automobile haulers, a journey trailer, and a ship. Included on the listing are high-end rides from Bentley, Maserati, and BMW. On high of that, it discovered marijuana and cocaine too.
The division confirmed off the haul in a video we’ve embedded under. Set to music from what feels like a mid-2010s beginner dubstep competitors, the LMPD lays out the entire automobiles it seized within the bust with Powerpoint-esque graphics. Police say the suspects concerned use a particular sort of VIN cloning.
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The method consists of creating a brand new set of VIN identifiers on a stolen car that coincides with a legit car. Then they’ll register the car, promote it, or preserve it and drive it with out it coming again as stolen by means of a VIN search.
“We discovered that the automobiles have been being cloned with new VINs and it was nearly unattainable for us on the road to have the ability to detect that the automobiles have been stolen as a result of in case you have been to run the license plate, it will come again to the automobile,” stated LMPD Det. Brian Reccius.
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Notably, the Louisville Metro Police Division hasn’t named any suspects at this level. It has charged “a number of folks” however hasn’t launched particulars on precisely what these expenses are or how huge this legal group is. Native information group WDRB discovered that public courtroom paperwork shed some gentle on these particulars. Three of the people have now been named. Every is charged with obscuring the id of a machine of $10,000 or extra and receiving stolen property.