Warning to all late Range Rover owners.
Discussion
Hi All
If you own a later Range Rover please read the following.
Mine was stolen at the end of last year, the thieves were caught after a series of identical thefts and were sentenced this week. The police have now told me a bit more about the modus operandi of the criminals involved.
It seems that the vehicles were most probably being stolen to be shipped to Africa in containers in one piece for resale, the thieves were Lithuanian and suspected to be part of a bigger network.
The cars were accessed via the sunroof and the thieves had with them a piece of kit that is available to buy on the Internet for a few thousand Euro. This allowed them to start the vehicles without the original keys. The police tested the equipment on the current model Range Rover and the previous, both were started within 10 seconds.
When mine was stolen Land Rover contacted me to tell me that they don't have a problem with security. However, the tone of the conversation suggested that they knew otherwise. I am told by the police that there has been a security upgrade, however it is understood that owners have not been proactively contacted about it.
I asked the officer in charge what measures he would take to prevent future thefts and he said, "buy a crook lock", and he wasn't joking.
So, in summary, it appears that there is a waiting market for late Range Rovers abroad. The criminals have worked out how to steal them and whilst some of them have been taken out of action there will be others with the knowledge and equipment necessary to continue this activity. Land Rover is aware of the problem and has, I am told, got a fix which they are not proactively installing on customer cars. Mechanical means of theft prevention are suggested.
If you own a later Range Rover please read the following.
Mine was stolen at the end of last year, the thieves were caught after a series of identical thefts and were sentenced this week. The police have now told me a bit more about the modus operandi of the criminals involved.
It seems that the vehicles were most probably being stolen to be shipped to Africa in containers in one piece for resale, the thieves were Lithuanian and suspected to be part of a bigger network.
The cars were accessed via the sunroof and the thieves had with them a piece of kit that is available to buy on the Internet for a few thousand Euro. This allowed them to start the vehicles without the original keys. The police tested the equipment on the current model Range Rover and the previous, both were started within 10 seconds.
When mine was stolen Land Rover contacted me to tell me that they don't have a problem with security. However, the tone of the conversation suggested that they knew otherwise. I am told by the police that there has been a security upgrade, however it is understood that owners have not been proactively contacted about it.
I asked the officer in charge what measures he would take to prevent future thefts and he said, "buy a crook lock", and he wasn't joking.
So, in summary, it appears that there is a waiting market for late Range Rovers abroad. The criminals have worked out how to steal them and whilst some of them have been taken out of action there will be others with the knowledge and equipment necessary to continue this activity. Land Rover is aware of the problem and has, I am told, got a fix which they are not proactively installing on customer cars. Mechanical means of theft prevention are suggested.
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