Indian-origin man jailed for handling 19 stolen vehicles in UK

An Indianorigin man has been sentenced to eight years in jail by a UK court for handling of 19 stolen highvalue vehicles worth over 700000 pounds Chirag Patel 39 was found guilty of conspiracy to handle stolen goods and possession of criminal property at the end of a fiveweek trial at Croydon Crown Court last FridayPatel played the leading role in a sophisticated operation to handle highvalue stolen vehicles motivated only by sheer greed said Acting Detective Sergeant Billy Clough who led the investigation for the Metropolitan PoliceHe even attempted to convince the jury that he was a legitimate businessman who had simply been unlucky in obtaining such a vast quantity of stolen items but the jury saw through this and convicted him of being the key player in a significant criminal enterprise he said Patel was jailed for conspiracy to handle stolen goods in relation to the cars and keys for which he received eight years imprisonmentHe was sentenced to three years imprisonment for possessing criminal property and in relation to over 440000 pounds of unexplained cash deposits which had been identified from two personal bank accounts in his name Both the sentences will run concurrentlyI hope this sentence sends a message that those involved in this type of organised criminality will be pursued robustly the Met Police said The court was told that in February 2015 Patel reported to police that his Porsche had been stolen At first Patel resisted giving his home address instead providing details of his parents address When he finally gave his own address officers attended the property as part of their investigation into the stolen carHere they discovered a number of highvalue vehicles in the basement car park Officers identified that one of cars had a personalised number plate identical to one seen earlier on a vehicle outside Patels parents addressFurther inquiries by officers established that the five vehicles in the car park had false number plates and all were later confirmed to have been stolen Patel was arrested at his home address soon afterDuring a search of his property Met Police officers recovered 26 sets of car keys as well as lists of vehicles and registrations machines for accessing onboard computers in vehicles programming keys and a number of mobile phones tablets and laptopsFollowing a detailed investigation led by officers from Croydons Serious Acquisitive Crime Unit a total of 19 stolen vehicles with an estimated value of 728000 pounds were linked to Patel and subsequently seized as well as nine sets of keys which had been stolen from Jaguar Land Rovers plant in Solihull West Midlands and a laptop stolen during a burglary in Streatham area of south LondonDuring the trial judge H H J Gower praised the work of the Scotland Yard officer Police Constable Andy Garland whose work identified the first stolen vehicleThe judge said It was his sharp eyes and investigative nose and approach which first spotted a stolen vehicle and set this investigation in motion and he receives my formal commendationThe police later discovered that Patel had been using the vehicles in the running of an offthebooks vehicle rental business where vehicles were rented out to his associates and contactsThe vehicles had been stolen by unknown individuals during burglaries and keyless thefts across London between October 2012 and January 2015 and were stored at or near addresses owned by Patel and his family or with associates who looked after the vehicles for him or rented them from him The identities of the cars were concealed using legitimate insurance details of vehicles which had been written off on official recordsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever