Police crackdown on 'chop shop' gangs stealing Audi and VW cars from Edinburgh

CRIME-BUSTING cops are smashing gangs of car thieves stealing high-performance motors across the Capital.

Edinburgh’s police chief praised the work for contributing to a 17 percent year-on-year drop in vehicle crime in the city.

Chief superintendent Sean Scott said organised groups are behind thefts where cars are taken to so-called ‘chop shops’ to be broken up and sold.

“A lot of these vehicles are stolen to order,” said CS Scott. “We had one case where we found a chop shop in Fife with a number of vehicles stolen from our area.

“Some are broken up for parts and some are sold on - some out West, some go abroad, it’s quite a mix.”

Newly published Police Scotland figures show there were 1,651 reports of motor vehicle crime, including thefts, in the nine months between April and December.

That figure amounted to 338 fewer cases than the 1,989 reported over the same period in the previous year.

Typical cases see high-spec Audis or VWs targeted with thieves hacking their computer security systems or breaking into homes to steal keys.

“We’ve had success in identifying who those responsible are and where the vehicles are going. We’ve locked a lot of them up but they keep coming back out again - it’s a cycle.”

Housebreakings were down nearly a third (30 percent) from April to December compared to the previous year - from 1,022 to 713.

“My absolute priority is keeping the emphasis on preventing and detecting those breaking into people’s houses,” said CS Scott.

“For me, it’s up there with personal violence and we’ll continue to keep it as a priority.”

Break-ins of sheds and garages saw a drop of more than a fifth (21 percent) from 468 to 371.

“It’s pleasing to see and we will be maintaining that pressure,” said CS Scott. “I think a lot of that is down to prevention work.

“While we’ve had a lot of success locking up recidivist offenders, unfortunately, they don’t stay in prison forever.”

Business break-ins, meanwhile, were down more than a quarter (29 percent) from 481 to 340.

Common thefts were up slightly, from 3,702 to 3,717 while shoplifting was down from 3,640 to 3,169.

Reports of fraud, meanwhile, were up from 1,019 to 1,143.

Overall, such crimes of dishonesty saw a drop from 14,605 to 13,194 year-on-year - a ten percent reduction.

The number of such crimes clear-up dropped 11 percent year-on-year from 3,904 to 3,462.

In terms of housebreakings at homes, there were 77 fewer cleared up year-on-year - from 273 to 196.

“Across all these acquisitive crimes, there have been more than 1,400 fewer victims,” said CS Scott.

Information on how to deter thieves is available at www.scotland.police.uk.