Tow truck car thieves

Vehicles being stolen, carted away on the back of unmarked trucks

Thieves are disguising themselves as tow truck drivers to steal cars in a trick apparently picked up from international car theft rings.

Police are investigating several cases in which thieves used unmarked tow trucks as an undercover way to take cars off the street in full view. They are then dropped off at wreckers’ yards in a “steal-to-order” plot, it’s understood.

The technique has been popular overseas in recent years and a convicted Auckland car thief, who spoke to the Weekend Herald on condition of anonymity, said the practice was gaining traction here.

“Cars that get towed are the cars you can’t get the keys to. I know there are a bunch of guys that steal Safaris and Hiluxes, and these types of 4WD vehicles that scrap yards and car yards are willing to take for cash.”

The Weekend Herald has learned of cases where car owners and wreckers’ yard neighbours have seen cars like Mercedes and Audis being delivered in darkness to wreckers’ yards. Some victims told of seeing their own vehicles disappearing on the back of tow trucks.

The Weekend Herald has spoken to two Auckland motorists whose Safari 4WDs had been stolen this year. Both victims said they found them at the same South Auckland wreckers’ yard.

One legitimate Auckland truck driver said he tracked his stolen Toyota Hiace van to another South Auckland wreckers’ yard while it was still on the back of a truck.

“I’ve got a photo of it on the back of a tow truck going to the wreckers,” he said.

“I saw it in the yard and I was told to leave it there by police. I told them ‘I want my car back, it’s on the back of a tow truck’. But police may have been working on something.

“I’ve stopped driving tow trucks because of these **** holes, because they’re giving us such a bad name.”

A Facebook page has documented at least 10 suspicious tow trucks without company branding since December 2017.

“You look at any legitimate tow truck driver, he wears a high-vis vest and his truck is tidy. Look at the state of those trucks on the site and tell me those guys are legitimate,” the owner of the stolen Toyota

Hiace van said.

Police Detective

Senior Sergeant Karen Bright said police were “making inquiries” into car theft rings in South Auckland.

“Police have received some reports in the Counties Manukau South area of vehicles that have been stolen, possibly using tow trucks,” Bright said.

The car thief said the practice of stealing vehicles using tow trucks was well known, but was considered a last resort among the “shoppers” who boosted cars for gang members.

“The guys with tow trucks that steal cars do it under disguise of towing. To us that would be a last resort when there’s no other way we can get [the car we want],” he said.

However, despite the convicted car thief naming gangs with Auckland clubrooms buying the stolen vehicles on a daily basis, police would not confirm any gang involvement.

“Based on the information police have received at this point about these reported incidents, we are not in a position to confirm specific details at this stage, including who may be involved in this offending,” Bright said.

The owner of a business who operates across the road from one of eight South Auckland wreckers’ yards accused of buying stolen cars, said he saw tow trucks carrying new cars, such as Mercedes and Audis, entering the yard after dark multiple times a week.

“A couple of 40-foot containers a week go out of there. What’s in those containers and where they go I’ve got no idea,” the owner said.

“Not so much now, but we’d have the gangs turning up every Friday afternoon, and there’d be brown paper bags exchanging hands. How obvious does it have to be?

“We’ve had run-ins with the guys on the tow trucks as well, threats of violence.

“Every aspect of that business seems to be illegal and they seem to be getting away with it.”

The practice of stealing cars with tow trucks has also been reported overseas. In August last year, a tow truck stealing high-end vehicles across Manchester was captured on CCTV. In October, a similar plot was uncovered in the US state of Georgia.