Almost forty cars are stolen every day in the Alicante region, according to official papers, making the coastal city top of the league table when it comes to car thefts in Spain. That surpasses such cities as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia for the rate at which the cars are being nabbed.The figures, recently released by the Attorney General’s office only covers cases that actually have come to court, so the real figure is thought to be much higher than that.Almost 80,000 cars were stolen throughout Spain last year, and almost 14,000 of those were from Alicante. That means that, on average, 38 vehicles are stolen every day, or two every hour of every day, and equates to one in every six vehicles stolen across the country coming from Alicante.
while vehicle theft nationally as a whole rose by 5.4% last year, the results for Alicante were not encouraging to say the very least with the city seeing a massive increase of 39.2%. The problem seems to be that the region has become a base for many different types of criminal organization, whether they are home grown or coming from abroad – Alicante appeals as a good place to be a crook. Many of the cars are not just stolen and given new identities but are used in other crimes, such as robberies and muggings, before being dumped and often set alight. Manuel Martínez, from the AUGC Civil Guard association, told reporters that the province has become an important hub for all types of criminal organizations over recent years, many of which are involved in the organised theft of vehicles.Although some vehicles are used in other crimes a great deal are still stolen, either to order, or for resale, or quite commonly stripped down to be sold on as spare parts. One noted case was in Almoradi, where a gang was broken up which had stolen an estimated 500 cars over the previous 5 years.One of the most notable thefts of a car came this summer when the German Health Minister’s armored official car was stolen by thieves - Minister Ulla Schmidt was holidaying in Dénia, and had arranged for the car to be driven over from Germany for her use on official business. Once it was stolen the minister added to her embarrassment by admitting that the car hadn’t been insured for use in Spain. It was found by the Civil Guard a week later after thieves wisely decided that it might be a little noticeable driving it around.also this summer, three lakes in Rebassa Alicante, with a surface area of between 30,000 and 8,000 square metres, and a depth of no more than 20 metres were searched by Guardia Civil diver and found to conceal 19 vehicles, including cars, vans, motorbikes and mopeds which were all reported as stolen at one time or another.or how about 42 year old R.D., he was arrested last week by officers who’d followed him from a cafeteria and saw him getting into a suspicious vehicle with no front number plate. He also had with him a ruling from a Marbella court, dated that same day, releasing him on his own cognisance on a charge of robbery. It came to light that the car the suspect was driving had been stolen from a Marbella hire car firm earlier that day, whose manager was in fact at the Marbella station at that moment reporting the vehicle’s theft.
