Ten people have been arrested for alleged belonging to an organization that Drawing vehicles from the United States To resell them in Spain and other countries of the European Union after an “aesthetic reparation”, evading tariffs and taxes, as reported on Thursday by the European Prosecutor’s Office.
The national authorities of Spain, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania have carried out 200 records on Tuesday and Wednesday This week in the framework of this investigation, coordinated by the Prosecutor’s Office of Europe (EPPO).
The research also has links with Canada, Hungary, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The crimes committed, according to the EPPO, also raise “serious risks for road safety in Europe“. Among the ten detainees is a Lithuanian citizen who would allegedly one of the leaders of the plot. In addition, the authorities have questioned another 18 suspects, all of them of Lithuanian nationality.
The network was dedicated to smuggling of vehicles “Seriously damaged” from the United States to the EU for sale after superficial repairs, defrauding the payment of customs and VAT rights.
According to the European Prosecutor’s Office, the investigated network I bought large amounts of sinister vehicles to American insurance companies in auctions and then sent them to the EU, with their hidden commercial history. To evade a part of customs tariffs, criminals had false invoices to the authorities, declaring a much lower value to which they paid for the vehicles.
After entering through different ports of Belgium, Germany, Lithuania and the Netherlands, the vehicles were transported – supposedly – by land to Lithuania to be repaired in mechanical workshops.
Subsequently, they were sold in the European Union as if they had never suffered an accident or were completely repaired, even when they had hidden damage, such as the absence of Airbags or other serious security problems.
