Trace, Track, Get My Car Back Season 1 Episode 2

Reality Realm US

Trace Track Get My Car Back Season 1 Episode 2  #RealityRealmUS Reality Realm US

Transcript

00:00car crime is at a record high across the UK there's a car stolen every four minutes

00:17leaving families feeling violated there's people in my house and more than likely they're not here

00:29for a good reason 50 seconds was enough time to reprogram that car so that they had control of

00:35it and we didn't but an army of investigators are fighting back the car is actually parked just

00:41there by fitting vehicles with high-tech trackers can't tell you what the devices look like or where

00:46we hide them so they can trace track it's a cat and mouse game now we just have to follow that

00:51signal and snatch them back from the crooks who took them there you go there we are got it before

00:55they're sold on or shipped overseas they're called organized crime groups for a reason

00:59they're organized they plan this stuff today the hunt for an Audi sq8 gets the tracking team into

01:14a tight spot and everything is emanating from behind this black garage door and now to me

01:21I'm calling it and a much-loved motorhome is snatched from the owner's driveway that's my pride

01:27and joy and somebody else has taken it that's not right and a container full of car parts watch out

01:33that's about 12 ton of chopped up cars reveals that car crime really is a dangerous game we've also got

01:42petrol tanks these things like a ticking time bomb when they're at sea many stolen cars end up in

01:54illegal garages or chop shops where they're dismantled and stripped for parts to be sold on

02:00the black market for the criminals it can be a highly lucrative business providing they don't get caught

02:07specialist vehicle tracker Richard Taylor has seen firsthand the work of the car thieves I get to go

02:18to site I get to see the situations that these criminals leave the vehicles in one of the easiest things

02:23to do which probably is the quickest is to actually take the vehicle and and chop it into pieces Richard's

02:32latest job involves an Audi sq8 luxury hire car that's gone missing it's exactly the sort of car

02:39that could end up in a chop shop the end client has broken off all forms of communication and that normally

02:45indicates there's something something can miss somewhere and they're really nervous about this

02:51car because it's only a few days old it's worth about 95 grand a GPS signal from the cars tracker shows

02:57it's parked in Newport South Wales 120 miles from Richard's base it's been stationary for the last

03:0524 hours Richard suspects such a high-value car is being kept out of sight to avoid unwanted attention

03:17we've had a look at the street view where the GPS is there's kind of two options really we've got

03:22got a GPS that's sort of round the back of a car sales place and there is some lockups there and

03:29it could be in one of those or is a black garage door it's quite a small garage and it could be in

03:35inside there the plan is to use gadgets like these an RF or radio frequency receiver to pinpoint the

03:43location obviously the RF we'll be able to tell exactly which carriage is in or lock up that's that's

03:49the beauty of the RF signals we can see through concrete and pick up where this car is the thieves

03:56have had the vehicle for over 24 hours so we'll have to move quickly to get the car back in one piece

04:02what is going to happen in that 24 or 36 hours if you know it's a stolen vehicle at the end of the day

04:09and what happens to stolen vehicles well either they get shipped out of the country or they get stripped

04:15down you know taking the bits off the vehicle taking the wings off the doors off maybe taking

04:21the engine out the gearbox by dismantling it they will eventually be able to resell those parts so

04:28yeah pretty tense at the moment for the good for the owner of a 95 grand Audi S Q8 Richards arrived in

04:37Newport and is joined on location by his colleague Danny and one of the hire company's recovery team

04:44it's a signal with receiver they know they're in the right area but there's no clear signal coming

04:52from any of the lock offs nothing nothing down that way so just doing an RF sweep we're just checking

05:02out some garages at the back here there's nothing then I've just checked those garages down just to

05:08make sure it's not coming from there but if you turn it around that way it's louder yeah as they approach

05:18the main road the signal gets stronger we've got six we've got six rich has found a small lockup beside

05:26a shop where the signal is strongest it's nowhere oh it seems beyond that garage door there but it's

05:32way too narrow to squeeze in the Audi S Q8 we've gone around the side of the building and everything

05:38is emanating from this behind this black garage door and now to me I'm calling it right so that's as far

05:44as I'm concerned I'm just going to tell the place it's behind that black door he's convinced the

05:49Audi's inside the small garage but could this mean it's already been chopped up into parts later is the

05:57place coming now the police arrived to help snatch back the Audi S Q8 but will they find it in one

06:04piece didn't see it was in bits or anything no no wheels hanging off or doors hanging off cars stolen

06:16from residential streets and driveways are often given new identities and sold on but some are

06:22destined for a more undignified end ruthless organized crime gangs cram multiple cars into

06:31shipping containers which are then sent overseas and sold at Felixstowe port stolen vehicle examiner

06:39Adam Gibson is on a mission to thwart the crooks today's container is one that's been intercepted

06:46from a chop shop and we suspect the contents within is loads of chopped up vehicles generally it's high-end

06:53vehicles BMWs Mercedes braking up cars and selling parts separately is a lucrative business for the

06:59criminals the parts have a higher value generally than the whole car sometimes so they will break

07:06them up part of the reason of that is out in these countries where the cars are going you can't just go

07:11to your local dealership if you've got a problem because there either isn't one or if you've got a

07:15stolen car and you take it there it could be identified as a stolen car so they're basically

07:19kept on the road by these backstreet garages that have got all these parts

07:23oh watch out Adam's Intel was spot-on that's about 12 ton of chopped up cars so we're gonna have to

07:36wade our way through it and see what we've got and he can see instantly that the parts belong to

07:40high-spec vehicles Range Rover headlights there that come up around there you'll see the Mercedes

07:47emblem and stuff well these seats here let's judge by the clips on those they will also be Jaguar Land

07:52Rover so normally it isn't just one brand you get several brands of vehicles but it's all normally

07:57luxury stuff it's chopped up our job in this now will be to look at what parts we've got there and

08:02see if we can build the individual cars and identify what cars have been broken up and chopped up

08:07they've got a big task ahead so Adam briefs the team put all the plastic and stuff around the

08:14corner all the stuff is getting slung I suppose and then bring it out along this wall and build the

08:19vehicles up so straight away as soon as you start peeling the plastic off we've got BMW M Sport panels

08:27so we've now got Mercedes Land Rover and BMW within the one container Adam and his team begin by

08:36placing the car parts into separate piles according to the car they've come from this is when the

08:42jigsaw begins these are Jaguar Land Rover so they'll go with these seats yep as you can see there's little

08:49to no care taken in protecting that interior we get a lot of them are ripped and torn they just don't

08:56worry about what they're doing because they're not paid anything for the cars the container is crammed

09:01with everything from headlights to hubcaps but the savvy thieves know which parts will make them money

09:07the main value is in the engine gearbox because that's the likely thing that's going to break on

09:11the car over in the other country but they need to replace the seats and other stuff for a bit of a

09:16bonus really or almost like packaging for the other stuff as well as shipping car parts astonishingly the

09:24crime gangs also send cars that are simply sliced in half so this is what we call a half cut they've

09:29literally just run a saw straight through it through all your cables prop shaft etc just gone straight

09:36through the whole floor what we call half cuts or nose cuts is where they were literally cut through

09:41the windscreen straight down through the floor sort of behind the dashboard and there leaves the whole

09:45nose complete with the engine gearbox early all still connected reason they do that it's quicker to

09:51load and secondly the countries they're going to they can pay somebody peanuts to to break it apart

09:57because labor is far cheaper at the other end as the first half cuts removed it becomes apparent that

10:03it's a high-end model worth upwards of 50 grand new it's a convertible BMW 440i and that was someone's

10:12pride and joy sat on their driveway so this one's still got got the chassis number and everything still

10:17on it so we'll be able to confirm what that vehicle was quite easily Adam and the team are not even

10:25halfway through the box and they've already uncovered parts from two BMWs a Range Rover and a Mercedes and

10:33the contents of this container are just the tip of the iceberg it's a massive business multi multi

10:39million pound business some of the scrapyards out in these countries are huge later the team find more

10:47buried treasure the Audi R8 especially the GTs are the sort of 200 mile an hour supercars in it someone's took a

10:55saw to an Audi R8 and cut it in half

10:56in Newport South Wales Richards picked up a radio signal for a missing Audi SQ8 worth almost a hundred

11:11grand so things behind that garage door there again it through the concrete building he makes his way

11:19round to the other side of the garage where there's a larger door it looks increasingly likely this is where

11:25the luxury car is being stashed when you put all the evidence together we got the cell so we got

11:31a cluster of GPS positions we visited site we've got the our RF we've been through the back of the

11:36shop we've gone around the side of the building and everything is emanating from this behind this black

11:41garage door to make doubly sure Danny's trying to unlock the car remotely using the spare key if we can

11:51make a small gap underneath the door sometimes you can leave room up if you can make a small gap

11:55and then you can operate the keys then obviously if they indicate the indicators will go off and

12:00we'll see some lights flashing and we know it's our car inside so gotta be worth a go

12:04there we go that works good idea Dan well done mate we managed to get the roller door up by a few inches

12:26crack to the old remote control indicators flashed inside guaranteeing the vehicles inside easy to convince the

12:34police I mean it's easier than with the RF you know the RF say they might not know but if we press a

12:39button on the remote and the indicators flash I think the police would say it's inside so yeah great really

12:45happy with that although they've found the car the garage looks very tight and there's still a concern

12:51about whether it's been chopped up for export I didn't see it was in bits or anything and then

12:56no wheels hanging off or doors hanging off there's only one thing for it they need to get the doors open

13:02the police arrive right on cue and quickly gain entry but is the car inside maybe and there it is at

13:20last the missing Audi he's left the boot open left the windows open there's nothing inside the vehicle no

13:30and the good news is the car has not been stripped at all and it's in really good condition so I mean

13:37I'm amazed it was actually in there I could hardly squeeze past between the wall I mean it's it's only a

13:43small garage but it's in there and the car looks good yeah we're not gonna get out this little one

13:50of the back yes finally they get the roller door open and this luxury motor can be returned to the

13:59grateful owners I think if we hadn't acted straight away on this one and we'd left it another day or the

14:05customer had waited another day we could have had a different situation here we could have taken that

14:09door up and we could have been in tears literally you know the thing could have been stripped half of

14:14it could have been missing so I think the prompt actions of the customer you know getting us out

14:20there and and in this case you know it was a solemn vehicle cooling down and yeah a day later it could have

14:28seemed really different caravans and motorhomes are being targeted by criminal gangs second-hand prices

14:47are rising and thieves are cashing in every year around 4,000 of these vehicles are stolen

14:55right this is my pride and joy it's a seven and a half meter long motorhome nearly three meters tall

15:062.4 meters wide this is my motorhome this is a double bed which comes down from here we've got a

15:20microwave sink fridge cooker toilet shower everything kid could ever want you and

15:33Mcginnis enjoys nothing more than a few days away from it all in his home from home I tried to get

15:39away most weekends when I'm not working we managed to go everywhere and anywhere all the way up to the

15:46North Yorkshire moors down to the Welsh coast all the way down to Cornwall it's just the freedom to go

15:53where you want and meet other people in the community who've just got their motor homes and

15:59camper vans and we meet up occasionally and just being able to go anywhere you like really within reason

16:06but there's one weekend Ewan and his wife will never forget they'd been away in the motorhome and got

16:15back home to Loughton in Essex late Sunday evening normally the vehicle I'd take it to a yard where it'd be

16:23parked up in a in a secure yard but this night I just got home thought we'd unload any bits and pieces

16:30the next morning Ewan locked his 55,000 pound motorhome and left it parked outside overnight when

16:38I park up I always put on the steering wheel lock it's all locked up it's near my house you think it'd

16:46be fairly safe for extra protection Ewan's motorhome was fitted with a dashcam and GPS tracking device

16:54me and the wife went to bed suppose about 10 o'clock she says I can hear something what sounds like a

17:04motor home starting I go no no yeah but you're imagining it no no I can hear it I went to the

17:11window I've seen the lights come on and it's driven down the road as the motorhome pulled away the

17:21tracker was automatically activated and the dashcam began recording providing astonishing footage of

17:28what ensued I just couldn't believe my eyes that my vehicle was moving down the road without me that's

17:38my pride and joy I put money into that I've made it how I want it to be and somebody else has taken it

17:45that's not right it's not feeling I want to have ever again it's uh it's horrendous Ewan checked the

17:58motorhome's tracking app on his phone I've seen it heading on a road towards the local motorway so I've

18:07just jumped in my car headed off towards where I thought it would be Ewan's pursuit was also recorded

18:18on dashcam as I've got up the road I've got to a set of lights my heart was rubbing this is a dashcam

18:25from my car I've pulled up the GPS tracking system and I could see that he's down at the next set of

18:33lights is he gonna go onto the motorway or is he gonna go straight on I don't know a few hundred

18:40metres ahead the thief was also stuck on red and losing patience come on come on Ewan's lights changed

18:50first he turned left and the motorhome came into sight when I've turned after waiting at them lights

18:57back to what seemed like an eternity here it was then you just go for it without thinking of your

19:05own safety I just wanted it back Ewan was now right behind the stolen motorhome but he couldn't stop the

19:13thief moving over and then turning left onto the motorway slip road I just thought I've got to stop it I

19:20don't know why I've just got to stop him from getting on the motorway the car in front of the

19:26motorhome was being driven by an accomplice Ewan followed the two vehicles determined to stop the

19:33thief from getting onto the motorway eventually the motorhome pulled over I pulled around in front of

19:42him I bid me home to try and attract the attention that I'm there he's pulled back around me I pulled

19:50forward from him again I'm thinking I want to stop them but I don't want to damage the vehicle I want

19:56them to stop but they didn't I've pulled around in front and onto the motorway and I'm thinking where

20:01are they Ewan continued along the motorway but he'd lost sight of the motorhome and in the meantime my

20:09phone's ringing it's the police where are you I said oh I'm on the motorway just pulled on and onto

20:16the slip road and the police said stay there we're right behind you we'll be there in a minute they

20:23had great news Ewan's motorhome had been found abandoned at the side of the motorway the thief

20:31has run across the fields disappeared but I've got my motorhome back

20:39the thieves had hammered out the ignition lock ripped out the dashboard and cut the steering wheel

20:49in three places to remove the steering lock thinking that the steering wheel lock would stop

20:56them had been thrown out the water because that did not stop them they got through that within seconds

21:02Ewan's now had an alarm fitted reinforced the locks and bought a cover for the steering wheel buying a

21:12full cover that goes over the steering wheel I think will stop them more it wouldn't stop them

21:21completely if they had enough time they might get through it I think if they want your vehicle they

21:27will take it it's just putting barriers in their way to stop them you just got to make it harder for

21:34them if you witness a crime you should call the police and report it protecting your vehicle is

21:40one thing but you should never place yourself in danger by giving chase or trying to confront car

21:46thieves I think in hindsight it wasn't the best idea to run after them it's lately it could have ended

21:57badly for me so many things could have been different at night and I was so thankful that I'd got that

22:05tracking fitted when I did it's been a godsend hey it really is at Felixstowe port stolen vehicle examiner

22:22Adam Gibson and his team have intercepted a 40-foot container full of high-value car parts

22:28it's like Jenga innit after a busy morning they've reached the halfway point in the container which is

22:36full of chopped up luxury motors that will never be driven again common misconception that they rebuild the

22:42cars the other end you can't make a car out of it because you're missing certain pillars you're missing the roof

22:47but it is literally for the the various high-value bits like the engines gearboxes but it's quicker to

22:53do this than it is to strip those right out and then put them in a container as they get deeper into the

22:59box Adam makes a potentially lethal discovery a giant lithium battery taken from an electric car the big

23:07problem with this is those are highly flammable if that was to rupture it would go into thermal runaway

23:14and there's no putting it out you just got to watch it burn and it will get well over a thousand degrees

23:19if it wants to so that will probably be stored out of the way separate to everything else and it's not

23:25long before they discover the car the battery came from a BMW ix3 worth around 65 grand it doesn't look

23:34like a car anymore it's had its day um sadly didn't live for very long with a quick check on the vin label

23:41there July 2021 this vehicle was made yeah that's the back end the front end below with the electric

23:48motor between the front axle there they don't always put the rear ends in there sometimes you just get the

23:53front ends but it poses a problem for them what do you do with that how do you dispose of that

24:01unloading the parts from the container is one thing reassembling the cars and identifying them is the

24:08real challenge you've got the BMW ix3 the white one with the battery cell you've then got the BMW 440i

24:21the convertible which is these two halves that's your x5 in front your BMW x5 this is your range

24:30rover and then that's your Mercedes what judged by the panels now looks like a c-class potentially or

24:35an e-class um say one two three four five vehicles in the end at the moment we don't know the last 10

24:44feet but i think it's going to be more parts from these five but at the back of the container there's

24:50a surprise in store oh there you go Audi R8 GT so that was a that was a supercar you said do we get any

25:04Audi's that's an R8 GT to you the Audi R8 especially the GTs are the sort of 200 mile an hour supercars

25:14isn't it that's why the roof is only that wide and yeah you got someone's cut took a saw to an Audi R8 and

25:21cut it in half it's just such a shame isn't it the kind of cars they're chopping up it's just sacrilege

25:27the front section of this high performance sports car is removed from the container

25:32this is a 200 mile an hour supercar and when new this is about 180 000 pounds even now they're still

25:41worth in the high 60s in the thieves haste to fill the containers and get them shipped abroad

25:46the last thing on their minds is health and safety so in addition to the lithium batteries we've had in

25:53here and all the sawdust and all the other bits we've also got petrol tanks which clearly have

25:59still got fuel in by the way so these things are like a ticking time bomb when they're at sea

26:03the end is in sight we can now see the end of the container and then put the most valuable thing in

26:13the whole container probably in the back here to make sure it's in that's the V10 engine from the

26:20Audi R8 buried in the back there this is the bonnet that's the bonnet off the R8 these are the rear

26:27quarter panels from the R8 so um we're slowly building a car but yeah I don't think you want

26:35to take on a track day after it's been put back together so that's it after a hard day's graph the

26:43container has finally been emptied of all those high-value motors but just how much would they have been worth

26:49before the thieves stripped them down at the chop shop if they're going on there the actual values I

26:55reckon yes around the 700,000 mile mark based on what we've got three BMWs a Range Rover a Mercedes and

27:03an Audi supercar worth almost 200 grand were chopped up and squeezed into a 40-foot box although these

27:11cars will never be on the road again the Nazis team have upset the crook supply chain it's nice when

27:18we get the whole cars and we can phone the victims up especially if it's their pride and joy and they

27:21want it back we can phone them up and say we've got your whole car on this occasion we won't be

27:25doing that but we have at least deprived the criminals of their ill-gotten gains and they're not going to

27:30profit from this there are some steps we can take to beat the car thieves make sure your car has an

27:40alarm immobiliser and tracker check the doors are locked don't rely on the fog keep your keys in a

27:49signal-blocking bag well away from the doors and windows a strong steering lock or wheel clamp is a good

27:57visual deterrent think about where you park security lights and a doorbell camera may frighten off some

28:04camera-shy car thieves and finally if you have a garage use it

28:27the goods onmisoremy or a

28:40camera-shy cararaf thank you so much thank you so much after sharing your cellphoneUhandis bottom of the

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