Car Crime Kingpin Slapped with £1.37 Million Confiscation Order
Chirag Patel, 40, from Croydon, has been ordered to pay back a staggering £1,369,661.90 after handling 19 stolen cars worth over £700,000. The Croydon Crown Court slapped the Proceeds of Crime Act order on Patel last Friday, 29 November.
Big Bust for Stolen Luxury Motors
Patel was caught running a large-scale racket trafficking high-value stolen vehicles. The police uncovered his operations after arresting him in February 2015, when five luxury cars with fake number plates were found in his basement car park. The probe revealed 19 stolen vehicles linked to him, valued at £728,000.
Off-the-Books Car Rental Scheme Exposed
Further investigations showed Patel was secretly renting out these stolen wheels to his mates and contacts. The vehicles were pinched in burglaries and keyless thefts across London between 2012 and 2015. Patel covered their tracks by cloaking stolen car identities with legit insurance details from written-off vehicles.
Jail Time and Hefty Cash Payout
- October 2018: Patel was jailed for eight years after a five-week trial found him guilty of conspiracy to handle stolen goods and possession of criminal property.
- He received a concurrent three-year sentence for holding over £530,000 in unexplained cash deposits.
- He faces an additional 10-year default prison term if he fails to cough up the confiscation order money.
During raids, police seized 26 sets of car keys, devices to hack vehicle computers, stolen laptops, mobile gadgets, and detailed records of the stolen cars and their false registrations.
“Patel’s operation wasn’t just about stolen cars; it included complex methods to hide the crime trail and profit from vehicle rentals,” said a Croydon Serious Acquisitive Crime Unit officer.
This case sends a warning to those profiting from high-value car thefts – pay up or face decades behind bars.
