Thieves play car Tetris as they squeeze four Range Rovers worth £250,000 into container to sneak them out of the country

• Stolen cargo discovered by police in 40ft container at Tilbury port, Essex 
• Officers led to stash due to specialised Tracker device fitted in one car
• Exporting cars is lucrative black market trade but 53% of vehicles never recovered

Four stolen Range Rovers worth £250,000 were found squeezed like Tetris pieces into a 40ft container as thieves attempted to sneak them out of the country.  

Police officers discovered the stolen cargo at Tilbury port, Essex, where the luxury vehicles had been slotted together like puzzle pieces.

One of the cars had been fitted with a specialised Tracker device, which led police to recover the entire stash of SUVs before they were shipped overseas.

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Four stolen Range Rovers worth £250,000 were found squeezed into a 40ft container (pictured) as thieves attempted to sneak them out of the country

The secret tracker has no aerial, meaning a thief cannot seen where it has been hidden. But once it is activated, it emits an electronic signal that every police force in the country can follow.

Exporting and selling stolen vehicles on the black market is a lucrative business for organised crime groups and police figures show that more than half are never recovered.

Tilbury has always been a major hotspot for that sort of crime, according to a spokesman for Tracker.

Adrian Davenport, police liaison manager for Tracker, said the vehicles had been slotted together like Tetris pieces (pictured)

But police figures suggest that, in order to avoid detection, criminal gangs are also turning to smaller, less familiar ports including Grangemouth in Scotland, Immingham or Killingholme in Lincolnshire.

Adrian Davenport, the police liaison manager for Tracker, said: 'The Port of Tilbury, like other major UK ports, has always been a hotspot criminals use to get stolen vehicles out of the country.

'However, according to police, criminal gangs are now also using less familiar ports, such as Grangemouth, Immingham or Killingholme to ship high value vehicles out of the country.

'Official figures show 53 per cent of stolen vehicles are never recovered and this case shows us why, as criminals hide the vehicles and ship them. 

Tracker has worked with police in recovering stolen vehicles for twenty years. Currently, more than one million UK cars are fitted with their specialised tracking units.

The trackers are used on cars, commercial vehicles, motorhomes and caravans or motorbikes.

Mr Davenport added: 'We have just supplied additional police tracking equipment at strategic ports around the UK, so if a customer's brand new Range Rover Sport ends up dockside, there is an even greater chance we will pick it up before it leaves the country.'  

Source - mailonline