Police arrested three men and seized lots of car parts in a raid on a suspected chop shop in Birmingham as officers keep the pressure on criminals who provide a market for stolen cars.
Officers moved in on the garages located on a residential street in Erdington.
Inside police found a black BMW 1 Series which was confirmed stolen in March, as well as a bumper off a gold Audi R3.
Several body shells, engines and other parts were seized for assessment by our specialist vehicle examiner.
Officers also found a cannabis farm hidden behind a mirror inside the garage.
WMP arrested three men on suspicion of cultivation of cannabis. They were questioned and released on bail while officers gather evidence.
Electricity at the property had been bypassed, creating a fire hazard. National Grid attended to make it safe.
Criminals often use cannabis farms or other illicit activity to generate funds to purchase the equipment they then use to steal vehicles.
It’s suspected the operation involved cars that had been in crashes, but not deemed repairable by insurers and not recorded on the insurers’ database.
It’s believed car thieves were repairing the damaged vehicles with stolen car parts, and then selling the seemingly legitimate vehicles online at a discount to unsuspecting buyers.
PC Jake Galley, from the Birmingham Vehicle Crime Taskforce, said: “This was the culmination of many weeks planning and intelligence gathering.
“We were able to carry out the warrant thanks to intelligence received from the public, which is why it’s so important people tell us about things that are going on in their neighbourhoods. We are able to build bigger pictures off those small crumbs to put these sort of jobs together.
“With the support of the public we can continue to tackle car crime and shut down chop shops.”