Driveway gang targeted luxury cars

28 January 2010

A car thief who was extradited from his native Poland to face trial over a string of luxury car thefts across the UK has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Marcin Mikolajczak, 29, formerly of Winstanley Road, Wellingborough, was part of a gang that stole property worth more than £1.5 million across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, Luton Crown Court heard.

The 11-strong gang also targeted executive cars such as BMWs and Mercedes models from owner's driveways, which were thought to have been stockpiled for sale back in Poland.

The gang's plot unravelled in January last year when more than 100 police officers descended on properties across Luton, Wellingborough and Northampton, resulting in the arrest of eleven suspects, all of whom have since been jailed.

Detective Inspector Jon Gilbert, who led the investigation by the Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire forces, said: "House burglary has a significant detrimental impact on local communities. Anyone who commits such a crime will be tracked down and brought to justice."

Mikolajczak was sentenced at Luton Crown Court to three-and-a-half years imprisonment for conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

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