Braking bad: Essex-based cop car crime squad seize 737 stolen cars worth £27million including Ferrari owned by a Premier League footballer in a single year

A car crime-fighting police squad have revealed they have recovered more than 700 stolen cars in just the past year – including a Ferrari owned by a Premier League footballer. 

Essex Police’s Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit has seized £27million worth of stolen cars – ranging from luxury vehicles such as Rolls-Royce, to family cars including Toyotas.

Of the 737 cars stolen in the last year, the police unit retrieved £1million worth of vehicles in one week when they intercepted shipping containers hiding a Ferrari and Range Rover belonging to Premier League footballers. 

On a separate occasion, a Rolls-Royce Cullinan worth £360,000 was found in a container.

Has YOUR car been stolen? Email edward.holt@mailonline.co.uk 

PC Phil Pentelow (left) and PC Paul Gerrish (right) from Essex Police’s Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit

The cars were usually found within hours of being taken and the police unit examined them and used intelligence to hunt down other missing cars. Which has led to a record-breaking number of vehicles recovered this year.   

 Despite the luxurious nature of some of the cars, PC Paul Gerrish says the majority of their work involves retrieving cars and vans that are a familiar sight on the roads.

He said: ‘We are seeing a trend at the moment of thieves targeting family cars – Hyundais, Toyotas, Lexuses – and pushing them back out into the market with false identities.

‘These are the vehicles that make a huge difference to people’s daily lives.

‘It’s very satisfying when we return a car to a family who need it to drive the children to school, or we take a van back to someone who relies on it for their job.’

PC Paul Gerrish analyses parts of a broken-up Ford

Since 2021, the specialist police unit have recovered or identified more than 1,800 vehicles worth £58.5m and investigated 106 chop shops.

PC Gerrish said: ‘We are continuing to dismantle the organised criminal networks behind these thefts.

‘We’ve tracked down a record number of vehicles in the past year and recently we’ve had three very big jobs where we’ve recovered huge hauls of cars.’