A joint operation by the Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil

• The cars had been stolen in Denmark
• The recovery took place in the port of Las Palmas, before being exported to Africa

October 7, 2022.- Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency and agents of the Civil Guard at the Puerto de la Luz in Las Palmas, have recovered, since September 22, a total of nine high-end passenger cars, which had been stolen in Denmark recently and were stowed inside merchandise containers destined for the African continent.

Knowledge of the facts

The central Customs Surveillance services of the Tax Agency, in their investigative work on preventive matters in the fight against illicit trafficking of vehicles from the European Union, obtained information that led to suspicions of the existence of several stolen vehicles that could be being transported in several containers with the intention of leaving the customs territory of the Union by exporting them to various ports in Africa. At that time, a joint operation was organized between Customs Surveillance in Las Palmas and the Civil Guard of Las Palmas for its recovery.

Container Inspection

For this reason, on 22 September, various containers were opened and physically inspected, locating a total of nine vehicles that had not been declared in the corresponding customs documentation.

Using the chassis numbers of each vehicle, it was possible to confirm that all of them were listed as stolen in different locations in Denmark, and that they had been reported between June and August 2022.

For this reason, steps were taken through the SIRENE office (request for additional information on national entry) to return the vehicles to their rightful owners.

Between 2019 and 2020, the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard have intercepted up to 35 vehicles stolen at different points in Europe when the containers carrying them stopped in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the last port in the customs territory of the Union, before finally being exported to various countries in Africa.

The facts have been brought to the attention of the Investigative Court on Duty in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.