Dozens of supercars, including Lamborghinis, Porsches and BMWs, have been stolen from the streets of Britain and shipped to Thailand in a complex scam that police from both countries are rushing to dismantle.
Sparked by a UK request to retrieve the lifted vehicles, detectives in Bangkok last month launched a series of raids against dealers.
More than 120 top-of-the-range sports cars have since been seized, including some identified as stolen from Britain.
Thai investigators said they have also uncovered an array of scams and loopholes that dealers and corrupt customs officials exploit to circumvent eye-watering taxes the Southeast Asian kingdom places on supercars — usually about 328 percent.
“More than 1,000 supercars are implicated in the undervaluing scam,” said Thai Lieutenant Colonel Korawat Panprapakorn, the officer leading the investigation. “This practice has been going on for a long time.”
Britain is the most popular source for luxury car imports to Thailand, because both countries drive on the left-hand side of the road.
Lamborghinis appear to have been a top choice, making up 32 of the 122 seized vehicles, according to the Thai Department for Special Investigations (DSI).
The tax evasion scams ranged from impressively creative to bizarrely simple.
At least two vehicles were allegedly shipped over from the UK in parts and then assembled in Thailand to avoid the triple tax rate.
Eight Lamborghinis were simply declared as being the cheaper Gallardo model when they were the much more expensive Aventador.
However, in the vast majority of cases dealers under-declared the true value of the cars, often by tens of thousands of US dollars, to pay less tax, the DSI said.
The outright stolen vehicles were whisked abroad through a different scam.
Sources with knowledge of the investigation in Britain said most of the cars were bought on finance and shipped to Thailand.
When the vehicles were at sea, the owners reported them stolen and stopped the repayments.
Britain’s National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service confirmed it was working with Thai police to track the vehicles.
“To date 38 [stolen] UK vehicles, identified by their engine and chassis numbers and valued at over £3 million [US$3.8 million] have been imported into Thailand,” the agency said.” Seven of the thirty-eight vehicles identified were seized by the DSI from a used car dealership in Bangkok.”
Those seven were found during a police raid on STT Auto in Bangkok’s Ekkamai District.
The dealership’s owner, Indharasak Techaterasiri, told reporters he was baffled that the cars were reported stolen.
He said he imports 500 to 600 luxury vehicles per year from Britain and that his shipping agent always checks the UK’s vehicle registry databases to ensure the cars are not stolen.
“They keep saying on the news that all these cars are stolen, that I am a criminal ... it isn’t fair for me,” he said, adding that he rejects any allegation of impropriety and is happy to be interviewed by British police.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was