Professional Soccer Players Get Their Stolen Luxury Cars Back

Police recovered over £16 million in stolen cars and parts afterward.

Car theft isn’t just a huge problem in the United States and Canada, other countries like the UK are also grappling with it. And it’s not just lower-income people being targeted, with quite a few examples of thieves stealing from the wealthy. A potent example came in late August when two unnamed Premier League soccer players (what they call football on the other side of the pond) had their luxury cars stolen, then recovered.

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Funny enough, the two soccer players didn’t have their Ferrari and Range Rover at the same location when they were stolen. Instead, Essex police say the pricey rides were stolen from two different, albeit neighboring, counties. That helps demonstrate how widespread the car theft problem is in the United Kingdom.

Investigators were able to track down these rides and others, along with a bunch of parts likely from chopped cars, loaded up in shipping containers. Those containers were set to be sent off to Dubai in the UAE.

By the time investigators from Essex Police caught up with the two stolen rides, they were thankfully pretty much intact. The Ferrari appears whole while the Range Rover Sport is missing its hood. Police didn’t say exactly how many whole vehicles were recovered, simply stating that 517 cars and parts of vehicles were located.

Despite all the talk we hear about how orderly and respectful Dubai is, quite a few cars stolen in North America and other parts of the world end up in the United Arab Emirates’ city. Why that is has been a topic of much debate. All we know is it’s a common trend, with other particular cities in Africa and the Middle East acting as popular destinations for stolen vehicles as well.

Vehicle theft is definitely an international problem at this point. The governments of different countries will need to cooperate to fully shut down these operations or they will continue thriving.

Images via Essex Police