Police arrest gang trafficking cars across Europe

27 January 2005

PAMPLONA-Spanish police arrested 16 members of a gang suspected of trafficking luxury cars worth EUR 60 million in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, Spanish interior ministry sources said.

The arrests, made in the northern city of Pamplona, smashed a group who had re-registered the vehicles, in the southern French city of Toulouse, Hamburg, in northern Germany, and Brussels.

The gang then transferred them to Spain at a rate of some 2,000 a year, in the process avoiding having to pay value-added tax in line with the regime applying to “used goods”.

By way of example, the ministry said an E-range Mercedes originally worth EUR 70,000 would thus be liable for a tax payment of just EUR 500.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news