A British-Indian car theft firebrand got justice delivered to him first class after he called the authorities about his own vehicle being stolen. Chirag Patel, 39, asked for an investigation into his missing Porsche that reportedly was stolen on January 31, 2015. When officers conducted a search in his Croydon home, they found five stolen cars in his underground garage. Also found was a collection of 26 car keys, nine of which were stolen from Jagual Land Rover's factory in Solihull, West Midlands. Further investigation revealed a total of 19 stolen cars including a Porsche Cayenne, Range Rovers, and Mercedes. The total value of the stolen vehicles estimated at £728,000.
Patel has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Tragically for him, the Porsche he reported stolen was bought legitimately. His collection of cars were all stolen in “keyless thefts” across London between October 2012 and January 2015. Officers went through accounts of his car rental business and found found £440,000 in “unexplained cash deposits”. They also found a laptop stolen from a Streatham address. Authorities also said Patel tried to keep them away from his home by only giving details of his parents' address.
The Met said, “When he finally gave his own address, officers attended the property as part of their investigation into the stolen car. Here they discovered a number of high-value vehicles in the basement car park. Officers identified that one of the cars had a personalised number plate identical to one seen earlier on a vehicle outside Patel's parents' address. Further inquiries by officers established that the five vehicles in the car park had false number plates and all were later confirmed to have been stolen.”
They added, ““The vehicles had been stolen by unknown individuals during burglaries and keyless thefts across London between October 2012 and January 2015 and were stored at or near addresses owned by Patel and his family, or with associates who looked after the vehicles for him or rented them from him. The identities of the cars were concealed using legitimate insurance details of vehicles which had been written off.”
Acting Detective Sergeant Billy Clough said Patel was motivated by “sheer greed”. “He even attempted to convince the jury that he was a legitimate businessman who had simply been unlucky in obtaining such a vast quantity of stolen items, but the jury saw through this and convicted him of being the key player in a significant criminal enterprise. I hope that this sentence sends a message that those involved in this type of organised criminality will be pursued robustly.”
