Hundreds arrested, chop shops uncovered and vehicles worth millions seized

• Third Operation Alliances saw more than 100 warrants executed across 32 force areas, leading to 286 arrests
• 319 stolen vehicles with an estimated value of more than £2.6m seized
• 20 organised crime gangs with links to range of additional criminality including drugs, firearms and burglary disrupted by police activity.

Over 300 stolen vehicles worth more than £2.6million were recovered, and eight chop shops dismantled, during a week-long nationwide clampdown on organised vehicle crime.

The third Operation Alliances, funded by the Home Office and led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, saw 32 police forces carry out intelligence-led enforcement activity to identify and disrupt organised gangs behind large-scale vehicle theft, often on a national and international scale.

Building on the success of previous Alliances intensification periods, the operation again brought together policing and partners, including the National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership (NVCRP), coordination and intelligence development by Opal, policing’s national intelligence unit for serious organised acquisitive crime, and the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS).

During the week of action, forces executed more than 100 warrants and conducted more than 280 stop searches, with more than 285 arrests made for vehicle crime-related offences including theft of and from vehicles, going equipped and burglary.

Arrests were also made for a wide range of other offending, including possession of drugs and weapons, violent disorder and attempting to leave the UK while subject to court proceedings.

More than 50 charges have already been brought in relation to those arrests, with further expected to follow.

Chop shops – illicit set-ups where stolen cars are stored, stripped of parts and trackers, or fitted with cloned plates – were located and shut down by officers from Metropolitan Police, South Wales Police, South Yorkshire Police, Warwickshire Police and West Midlands Police, with 18 of those arrested linked to chop shop activity.

More than 300 vehicle parts worth in excess of £100,000 were recovered, while large volumes of criminal equipment was also seized, including cloned plates, relay devices, key programmers, licence plate printers, signal jammers and a lock-picking kit. Also recovered was a handmade ignition bypass switch, a number of knives and machetes and drugs.

Family and high value cars were not the only vehicles seized – also recovered were a forklift truck, caravan and horsebox, all of which had been stolen. A stolen excavator which was about to be exported was also recovered.

At the ports, 1,090 vehicles were stopped and checked, with 13 vehicles seized and one arrest made.

Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Grahame, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, said:

“The results of the third Operation Alliances demonstrate what can be achieved when police forces and our partners work together, sharing intelligence and targeting our resources where they can have the greatest impact.

“Vehicle crime is not a low-level crime with minimal consequences. It affects people and communities every day and, as the range of arrests during this operation demonstrates, is often linked to other serious offending.

“Police recorded vehicle offences decreased by 11 per cent in the year ending March 2026, but we cannot be complacent. People’s daily lives and livelihoods are being affected while criminals profit from their actions, and that simply cannot be tolerated.

“Police forces are tackling organised vehicle crime every day across the country, but it is a complex challenge due to the highly organised, global nature of the offending. Operation Alliances allows us to bring that work together on a national scale, build on it and send a clear message to offenders: together we will be relentless in our pursuit of those responsible.”

Chief Superintendent Owain Llewellyn, head of Opal, added:

“Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and constantly adapting their methods in an attempt to stay one step ahead of the law, as some of the equipment recovered during this operation demonstrates.

“Our communities rightly expect policing to stay ahead of changes in technology and take a proactive approach to detecting crime and bringing offenders to justice. Operation Alliances demonstrates how forces and partner agencies are sharing intelligence and working together to do exactly that.

“But enforcement is only part of the answer. Prevention is equally important, which is why we work closely with vehicle manufacturers to identify opportunities to make vehicles harder to steal in the first place.”

Policing Minister Sarah Jones said:

“Vehicle theft can turn lives upside down overnight. Criminals are driving away with people’s livelihoods, leaving them unable to work or take their kids to school in the morning.

“That’s why we have backed policing with additional funding to support this latest round of intensive action. I commend the officers and teams involved for their outstanding work disrupting criminal networks, recovering stolen property, and taking criminals off our streets.

“Vehicle theft is down 5% across the country, and we’ve introduced new laws that ban electronic tools used to steal vehicles.”

In addition to the Home Officer funding which makes Alliances activity possible, the National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership (NVCRP) will also be funding additional Qualified Stolen Vehicle Examiners for forces that have identified a shortfall.

The following are just some examples of the enforcement action which took place during Operation Alliances:

• Officers from Lancashire Police made three arrests after locating a chop shop and cannabis farm in Blackburn. Recovered from the site were ten suspected stolen vehicles, 1,125 cannabis plants, and approximately £15,000 cash. Elsewhere, they also arrested a man suspected of a number of keyless thefts. A search of his property also recovered mobile phones, £4,000 cash, a key programmer and diagnostic tool, car keys for Range Rovers, Hi Luxes and Fords, quantities of blank number plates and a number plate printer.  Another man linked to a separate investigation was also charged with conspiring to steal motor vehicles and money laundering.
• The Metropolitan Police uncovered a chop shop at an industrial unit in Romford. There they located seven vehicles which had all been reported stolen, along with vehicle parts from multiple other vehicles, and signal jammers, which are often used at chop shops to prevent cars being tracked. Arrest enquiries are ongoing. 
• Two men were charged with various offences including conspiracy to steal motor vehicles, fraud and burglary, after Sussex Police located three vehicles within hours of them being stolen. The men, who have been remanded in custody pending their next court hearing later this month, are suspected of being involved in the theft of 17 SUVs stolen across Hastings and Rother between July and September - 14 of which have been located and returned to their owners. 
• Cambridgeshire Police targeted a man suspected of being involved in the use and distribution of high-value cloned vehicles. He was arrested while attempting to leave the UK. Vehicles recovered included a Porsche Macan, Ford Kuga and Audi Q3 with a combined value of £70,000.
• In South Wales officers seized a vehicle which contained high value musical instruments, golf clubs, and power tools which were all suspected stolen, alongside a relay device and a large quantity of counterfeit bank notes.