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News items from Europe and the UK
With 1,245 cars checked across the four-day operation last month, information gathered during the initiative is being analyzed to identify potential links with other criminal activities. The operation was carried out immediately before the opening of the Football World Cup in Russia so as to determine links to the transnational organized crime activities often associated with major international sporting…
Eight suspects of illicit vehicle trafficking have been arrested after the Hungarian and Slovakian authorities joined forces with Europol. The criminal group was under investigation for embezzling three luxury cars in 2017. The cars were originally registered in Slovakia, then reregistered in Hungary with fake vehicle registration certificates and subsequently sold to private, often unsuspecting,…
In 2017, 68 innocent victims lost their lives as a result of terrorist attacks in the European Union (EU) – reason enough for Europol not to reduce its efforts in combatting terrorism in all its forms. Even though the number of casualties decreased last year, the number of attacks on European soil did…
On 30 May 2018 the Italian Central Directorate of Criminal Police, within the framework of EMPACT, with the support from Europol, CEPOL and the informal Network Against Metal Theft, created in 2014 within the Law Enforcement Working Party1, led a massive international action day against metal thefts. The operation took place in twelve EU Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain…
Proposals were presented today (June 6th, 2018) at the Home Office. The new initiative has been developed in response to the rise in motorcycle and scooter theft and the significant increase in scooters being used to enable further crime, which has been a particular problem in London. The new rating scheme will be known as ‘MCIA Secured’. For all participating manufacturers, each model within its range will be scored against…
In the 12 months to May 2018, there were 22,025 such crimes, or about 423 on average per week, while in the previous 12 months there were 14,699, or about 282 on average per week. Yet the figures also show that scooter-enabled crime has more than halved in London since it peaked in July last year. In May, police recorded 1,154 incidents in which a scooter, moped or motorcycle was used to commit a crime, a fall of more than 55% since July 2017…
Stolen vehicles are frequently trafficked in order to finance and carry out activities, ranging from drug trafficking, arms dealing, people smuggling and international terrorism. With this in mind, some 130 international experts from 30 countries around the world have gathered in Mexico to discuss the latest vehicle crime investigation patterns, new technologies available to law enforcement, cooperation challenges in vehicle supply chain…
Europol, through the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), has been supporting the investigation of criminal marketplaces on the dark web for some years by sharing tools, tactics, and techniques. The dark web hosts many of the more critical marketplaces for several criminal organisations and individual illegal activities in Europe and around the world. Due to its structural specificities – the possibility to buy and sell anonymously and the…
A team of ‘white hat’ hackers has uncovered 14 software and hardware vulnerabilities in a range of BMWs after carrying out what BMW says is the “most comprehensive and complex testing ever conducted” by a third-party company. The hackers found a range of vulnerabilities in the BMW i3 and X1, as well as the previous-generation 5 Series and 7 Series. Eight of the flaws related to the cars’ infotainment systems, four…
Online shopping giant eBay have been accused of offering a 'sat nav service for thieves' by showing the precise location of collection-only valuables. Sellers of cars and motorbikes have discovered to their horror that potential buyers can zoom in to within a few metres of where the item is for sale. But the problem, caused by phone app versions of eBay, means the location of almost any heavy and valuable item for collection-only is…