It was a Fast and Furious find for our officers this week after turning up an unexpected haul of £300,000 worth of stolen cars.
The discovery turned out to be the biggest stolen car seizure known in their department’s history – and possibly the largest force-wide for an operation that was not pre-planned.
It initially started off as a small job for PCs Amir Rahman Azadi and Mohammed Amer who responded to a radio call on Tuesday (16 January) for a stolen vehicle traced to the area via a GPS tracker which had randomly started pinging.
On patrolling the area and checking side roads, the officers came across an underground car park on Station Road in Stechford and found the vehicle. But they didn’t stop there. While logging its details, policing instincts began racing for the pair and they decided to have a thorough look around.
A second stolen car was quickly located and the situation jumped up in gear as two turned to four, then six, and kept going until the officers finally unearthed nine stolen high-powered cars. In addition, dangerous weapons found inside the cars were seized including a machete and Rambo knives.
It was quite an unexpected and long day for the officers, who were meant to finish their shifts at 3 pm, but went the extra mile and left the scene just before 8 pm, several hours after the initial call at 2.15 pm.
Sergeant Lee Howkins said: “In 19 years of service this is the biggest single find of stolen vehicles from one proactive PNC check that I can think of.
“£300,000’s worth of stolen vehicles recovered in 4 hours. Hats off to PC Amer and PC Azadi. Stunning work.
“For a spontaneous live job, this is the largest car seizure I’ve known in my service.”
No arrests have been made so far, but enquiries continue to trace those responsible for taking the cars.