Police recovered 319 stolen vehicles worth more than £2.6m and arrested 286 people during a nationwide operation targeting organised vehicle crime.
The third Operation Alliances also uncovered eight chop shops and disrupted 20 organised crime groups linked to offences including drug dealing, firearms and burglary.
More than 100 warrants were executed across 32 police force areas during the week-long operation, which was funded by the Home Office and led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
Officers also conducted more than 280 stop and searches, with arrests made for offences including vehicle theft, theft from vehicles, going equipped and burglary. More than 50 charges have already been brought, with further charges expected.
Eight chop shops dismantled
Chop shops were uncovered by the Metropolitan Police, South Wales Police, South Yorkshire Police, Warwickshire Police and West Midlands Police. Eighteen of the people arrested were linked to chop shop activity.
Police recovered more than 300 vehicle parts worth over £100,000 alongside cloned registration plates, relay devices, key programmers, number plate printers, signal jammers and lock-picking equipment. Officers also seized a handmade ignition bypass switch, knives, machetes and drugs.
The recovered vehicles included family cars, high-value models, a forklift truck, caravan, horsebox and excavator that was about to be exported.
Police and partner agencies stopped and checked 1,090 vehicles at ports, leading to 13 vehicle seizures and one arrest.
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.”
Technology fuels vehicle theft
The operation was supported by the National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership, the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service and Opal, policing’s national intelligence unit for serious organised acquisitive crime.
Chief superintendent Owain Llewellyn, head of Opal, said: “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.”
In Blackburn, Lancashire Police uncovered a chop shop and cannabis farm containing 10 suspected stolen vehicles, 1,125 cannabis plants and approximately £15,000 in cash.
A separate search recovered mobile phones, £4,000, a key programmer, diagnostic equipment, keys for Range Rover, Toyota Hilux and Ford models, blank registration plates and a plate printer.
The Metropolitan Police found seven stolen vehicles and parts from several others at an industrial unit in Romford, alongside signal jammers intended to prevent vehicles being tracked.
Sussex Police charged two men after locating three vehicles within hours of their theft. The suspects are alleged to have been involved in the theft of 17 SUVs across Hastings and Rother between July and September, 14 of which have been recovered.
Cambridgeshire Police arrested a man suspected of involvement in the use and distribution of high-value cloned vehicles as he attempted to leave the UK. Officers recovered a Porsche Macan, Ford Kuga and Audi Q3 worth a combined £70,000.
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.”
The National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership will also fund additional qualified stolen vehicle examiners for police forces that have identified shortages.
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