Gone in 60 Seconds Costa del Sol – gang caught targeting & stealing luxury cars for sale in the UAE

The Guardia Civil, in collaboration with their Italian counterparts the Carabinieri, has dismantled an international criminal gang specialising in the theft and forgery of luxury cars in Italy and Spain, which were then transported to Belgium for sale in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to a statement from the Guardia Civil, nine individuals have been arrested in Italy. The group is accused of stealing and forging 90 high-end vehicles, valued at over €18 million, and then laundering more than €2.5 million through a complex and opaque cryptocurrency network.

Luxury car theft to order from UAE, uncovered in Spain & Italy

The Guardia Civil, the investigation began in October 2024, after police cooperation through Europol with the Italian Carabinieri in the Reggio Emilia region, which uncovered the existence of a criminal network dedicated to stealing and forging luxury vehicles in Italy. Further inquiries showed the group was also active in several locations in Malaga, operating with the same modus operandi in both countries.

In Spain, gang members scoured Costa del Sol towns for the market’s most exclusive vehicles, in a type of “Gone in 60 Seconds, Costa del Sol”. Once targeted, they discreetly installed geolocation devices to track the cars’ real-time locations. When a vehicle was parked in public spaces, community garages, or car parks, the group struck, typically in the early morning hours.

Some members watched out over the area to make sure of the theft’s success, while others executed the robbery by bypassing the vehicles’ security systems and starting them without keys or force. Stolen cars were then taken to a strategically located warehouse in Malaga’s Axarquia region.

Car theft to order in UAE used sophisticated electronics to cover tracks

The Guardia Civil reported that this facility was equipped with “sophisticated electronic counter-surveillance measures” to hide the vehicles until the perpetrators returned to Spain to alter identifying features, such as license plates and chassis numbers, and recode new keys. Once given a new identity, another member of the organisation transported the vehicle to Antwerp, Belgium, for export to the United Arab Emirates.

The criminal network laundered over €2.5 million through a sophisticated financial scheme using cryptocurrencies to obscure the illicit origins of the funds. They employed frontmen to act as account and digital wallet holders to complicate asset tracing and evade judicial action.

The police operation resulted in the seizure of assets worth over €3.5 million, including luxury vehicles, properties, cash, and digital assets directly linked to the criminal network and its collaborators.

In Spain, the operation was overseen by Marbella’s Court of Instruction Number 5 and conducted by the Guardia Civil’s Vehicle Crime Section of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) as well as Malaga’s Organic Judicial Police Unit. It also involved a joint investigation team under Eurojust and Europol, essential tools for combating transnational criminal organisations like this one.