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Vehicle crime
Vehicle crime is a highly organized criminal activity affecting the whole world. It has been clearly established that it is often linked to organized crime and terrorism. The vehicles are not only stolen for their own sake; sometimes they are trafficked to finance other crimes. They can also be used as bomb carriers or in the perpetration of other crimes.
These web pages attempt to offer useful information and links to fight vehicle crime. Interpol is working to keep this site up to date and to provide the most useful information.
The Interpol General Secretariat has developed the Automated Search Facility-Stolen Motor Vehicle (ASF-SMV) database to support police in member countries in the fight against international vehicle theft and trafficking.
At the end of 2007, the database held more than 4.2 million records of reported stolen motor vehicles. Close to 149 countries use the database regularly, of whom 119 countries share their national stolen vehicle database records with INTERPOL. More than 37,000 motor vehicles have been discovered worldwide through the ASF-SMV database, 4,000 hits more than in 2006.
This information is supplied as an indication. The chart had to be created manually because of the many different spellings of the vehicle makes in the ASF.
Records SMV
Searches
Hits
Countries
Countries uploading their national databases into ASF SMV
Countries which have searched in ASF SMV
On an international level, the General Secretariat has set up and chairs a number of working groups which meet on a regular basis, and has developed numerous projects to address the issue, including Project FORMATRAIN and Project Mar Adriatico.
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Project FORMATRAIN –
an acronym from FORMAtion and TRAINing – assists investigators with information on vehicle and document identification, investigative strategies, techniques and tools, databases, legal preconditions, etc. The aim of the project is to create a standardized training program to facilitate investigations of international cases of vehicle theft through basic, intermediate and advanced courses; to train the trainers; and to take advantage of Interpol's global network to share expertise. Representatives from Australia, Belgium, Finland, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and Zimbabwe have attended working group meetings.
The first training course was hosted by the Finnish National Police School in 2003.
The second training took place November 2007 in West Africa in cooperation with the NCB Wiesbaden. It was offered one week training in French language in Cotonou/Benin where law enforcement officers from Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Gabon were trained. The second session in English language took place in Abuja/Nigeria, where law enforcement officers from Nigeria, Togo, Ghana and Liberia were trained.
The Working Group resumed its activities in 2006, with members from Finland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, South Africa, USA, Hong Kong and the Interpol General Secretariat. The next Working Group meeting will be held in South Africa in April 2008.
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Project Mar Adriatico –
was initiated by the Italian NCB. The General Secretariat has assumed international co-ordination of this operation. For the first time, vehicle crime experts from Portugal, Greece and Turkey joined the Working Group at its last meeting, and took part in discussions with experts from Spain, Italy, Germany and Bulgaria.
Furthermore, vehicle crime experts from Interpol regularly attend meetings of the Baltic Sea Task Force Expert Group, which focuses on co-operation and joint operations in the region.
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Project INVEX was initiated by the German NCB.
The aim will be to increase the quality of the data in the ASF SMV database in co-operation with a number of car manufactures. A pilot project with 15 countries and the German car manufacturers Volkswagen (incl. Skoda and Seat), Audi (incl.Lamborghini), Porsche, BMW (incl. Mini and Rolls Royce) and Mercedes-Benz (incl. Smart and Maybach) will attempt to increase the quality by regularly exchanging data. The pilot project is planned to start in the first half of 2008.
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Operation ZFF was initiated by the Italian NCB.
The countries taking part are Italy, Switzerland, France, Greece, the United Arab Emirates and Japan. It is the first time the General Secretariat has proposed ad hoc analysis and support during ongoing investigations, and to co-ordinate such an international investigation. The next meeting is planned in the first quarter of 2008 in Greece.
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Operation UMOJA and PALANCA NEGRA III.
In April/May and October, a number of cross-border operations were carried out in Eastern Africa. Hundreds of cars were discovered, mostly stolen in Japan. The General Secretariat supports the follow-up measures by analyzing the results and preparing recommendations for the countries involved to reduce trafficking of stolen cars and, possibly, discover criminal networks acting in the background.
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