Moment Ukrainian ‘car cannibal’ is caught at Dover: Border officers find van driver smuggling £100K worth of parts from eight high-end vehicles stolen off UK streets
A Ukrainian driver was pulled over with parts worth £100,000 from eight stolen cars smuggled out of England to be sold on the black market.
Parts of a Jaguar XE sports car and four Land Rover Discovery vehicles were found in a wrecked delivery van when police searched the Port of Dover in Kent.
The driver protested his innocence to officers and claimed his van was full of spare parts that he wanted to ‘take home’ after buying them as scrap metal online.
But investigations quickly confirmed that the parts, including the LED headlight units, had been made in recent years, and one of them was linked to a car theft that had occurred just nine days earlier.
The moment the ‘car cannibal’ was caught features in the latest episode of Channel 4 documentary Dover 24/7: Britain’s Busiest Port, which airs Mondays at 8pm.
In an exclusive clip published in the Daily Mail, officer Steve from the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) is seen pulling the delivery van over.
It says: ‘The vehicle does not appear to be insured, it does not appear to be registered with the driver. The driver is Ukrainian. He told us the vehicle was full of spare parts.’
The van is full of parts that look like junk at first glance, but then Steve takes a look and expresses concern that some of the parts were only manufactured in 2019.
The driver told police in Dover, Kent, that his van was full of spare parts he wanted to ‘take home’
Investigators find £100,000 worth of parts from eight stolen high-end cars in driver’s van
He explains that if someone was buying old scrap vehicle parts to remove from the UK, they would expect the vehicles to be 15 or 20 years old, not seven years old.
The driver tells them: ‘I wanted to buy these parts to take home. I was trying to find these parts but couldn’t. That’s why I was suggested to come here.’
Steve then notices a 2016 Discovery Sport with the chassis number confirming that it was reported stolen nine days ago. He believes the parts are worth around £20,000, including the LED headlight units, which could cost £900 each.
It says: ‘Four Land Rover Discovery bonnets, another Land Rover bonnet, an almost complete Jaguar XE. I think we could look at eight or more vehicles.
‘We have a blue, a red, a black and a grey. Interestingly, the Jaguar has contact information in the door pocket. ‘Probably someone woke up in the morning, realized he was lost and ended up in this situation again.’
The parts were seized so that the investigation could be carried out; but after this the police took no further action against the driver.
Parts of Jaguar XE sports car and four Land Rover Discovery vehicles found
Investigators found some car parts in the van were linked to a theft that took place just nine days earlier
It comes as gangs continue to target luxury cars in Britain, with 7,000 high-spec vehicles stolen to order and then dismantled last year.
This is happening all over the UK in illegal garages known as ‘cutting shops’, where stolen cars are cut up for parts and sold.
These parts are often shipped to countries in Africa and the Middle East, where they can be sold for higher prices on the black market.
The latest episode of the TV series comes after a migrant was caught trying to sneak out of England in the back of a lorry, pleading with police: ‘I just want to go back to France!’
The man was seen jumping out of a lorry while being searched by officers at the Port of Dover ferry terminal before running towards the exit.
‘Dover 24/7: Britain’s Busiest Port’ airs on Mondays at 20:00 on Channel 4 and can be watched by clicking. Here
