Seminar – vehicle crime investigation Interpol and the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators (IAATI) are co-organizing an annual European seminar. [Read more...]

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.

End of December 2008, the database held more than 4.6 million records of reported stolen motor vehicles. Close to 151 countries use the database regularly, of whom 122 countries share their national stolen vehicle database records with INTERPOL. In 2008 more than 31,000 motor vehicles have been discovered worldwide through the ASF-SMV database, 6,000 hits less than in 2007.

Countries

Countries uploading their national databases into ASF SMV

Countries which have searched in ASF SMV

We are seeing evidence of increasing trends in the theft of heavy vehicles and trailers. Evaluations are under way to try and gain a clear picture of the situation and to decide on an appropriate course of action.

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.

• 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.
  

Training courses have been held together with our international partners:

• for European Experts in 2003 in Vantaa/Finland
• for Western African countries in November 2007 in Abuja/Nigeria for Nigeria, Togo, Ghana and Liberia and Cotonou/Benin for Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Gabon
• for Cyprus, Italy, Greece and UK in Nicosia/Cyprus in April 2008
• for Syria, Oman, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait in Damascus/Syria in May 2008
• for Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Gambia in Abidjan/Cote d’Ivoire in December 2008

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 June 2009 in Vienna/Austria.

• 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.