See Where Stolen UK’s Luxury Cars Were Found In Uganda

28 other luxury cars stolen from the UK were found in Uganda

Detectives tracing a Lexus stolen from London ended up locating it in Uganda – alongside a fleet of British cars worth more than £1 million. They were able to track the £50,000 SUV because it was fitted with a state-of-the-art device that activated when it was taken from west London.

This Lexus was traced back to Uganda (Picture: SWNS)

As a result the National Crime Agency was able to use a smartphone app to trace the journey of the stolen car 6,000 miles to Ugandan capital Kampala, after it had travelled through France, Oman and Kenya.

Metro/BBC report continues:

‘The role that APU and its unique technology played in the operation was crucial,’ National Crime Agency regional manager Paul Stanfield said.

He added: ‘Without its innovative method of locating the asset and its team’s experience in both converting location data into usable content as well as understanding how such a complex investigation is executed, we would not have been able to bring this operation to a successful conclusion.’

When officers discovered the Lexus RX450h, they were stunned to find it alongside 28 other expensive cars that had been stolen from the UK by a car-smuggling gang.

It is believed all the vehicles were equipped with keyless ignition, with the criminals using reprogrammed keys to start the cars up.

Tracking data from the Lexus that was stolen in London (Picture: SNWS)

Since the start of the year, more than 40,000 cars have been stolen in London with a quarter of these using keyless technology.

The fleet of stolen cars, mainly made up of Range Rovers, BMWs, Audis and other prestige makes, is now in the process of being shipped back to the UK.

The Ugandan car-smuggling ring has since been broken up.