GENERAL INSPECTORATE OF ROMANIAN POLICE

CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATIONS
DIRECTORATE

GENERAL INSPECTORATE OF ROMANIAN POLICE – Criminal Investigations Directorate

 GENERAL INSPECTORATE OF THE
ROMANIAN POLICE

ON THE CENTRAL LEVEL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

DIRECTORATE
VEHICLES CRIMES UNIT

•TERITORIAL POLICE INSPECTORATE

ON THE
TERRITORIAL LEVEL •CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION SERVICES
•BUCHAREST METROPOLITAN POLICE
ACTIVITIES :
•STOLEN VEHICLES SERVICE

Carries out activitites of criminal pursuation, organizes,

coordinates, guides and controls the activity of
corresponding territorial structures regarding the
prevention and combating of stolen vehicles and
international trafficking with stolen vehicles.
 LEGAL FRAMEWORK

 Penal Code;
 Criminal Procedure Code;

 Law no. 222/2008 for fullfilling Law no. 303/2004 regarding international
cooperation in criminal law
 Government Decision no. 195/2002 the Romanian Traffic Code;

 Government Decision no. 1391/2006 -the Regulation for the enforcement of the
Traffic Code
 MANUFACTURERS /
IMPORTERS

The Romanian Authority

for Technical Registration of Vehicles

National Authority for Customs

Insurance and leasing

Companies

The Romanian Authority

for Vehicles Registration
 Starting point
 A large increase of the phenomenon of international trafficking with
stolen vehicles in the past 10 years due to:

 Huge export of vehicles from Western Europe towards Eastern countries

as a result of the manufacturing of new vehicles and selling on the market
of second-hand vehicles at low prices;
 After Romania joined E.U. in 2007 police can not record the E.U. persons
and vehicles at the border:
 The suspects can travel very fast from a country to another inside E.U.
 It is an easy way of obtaining large illegal benefits due to the value of the
vehicles.

Romania = strategic position regarding the transit, selling of stolen

vehicles and origin country of stolen vehicles
 Networks and trafficking routes
 Italian route : itinerary Italy-Austria-Hungary-Romania, Italy-Slovenia-
Hungary-Romania and Italy-Greece-Bulgaria-Romania

PL
CH
A
U

A
CH
 German route : itinerary Germany-Austria- Hungary-Romania and
Germany-Czech Republic-Slovakia-Hungary-Romania.

PL

A
CH
 Russian-Ukrainean-Moldavian route: is acting on Romanian
territory, taking over the vehicles which cannot be registered and transiting
Romania with stolen vehicles from the European Union

PL

A
CH
SPANISH ROUTE, are used by the suspects for vehicles stolen from
Romania and also stolen from Spain
- in Spain live large comunities of Romanians
- the vehicles stolen from Romania are carried out in Marocco through
Gibraltar

PL

A
CH
Turkish-Arabic route: itinerary - Romania heading to Bulgaria,Turkey,
Syria and Irak

In the last years a large numbers of Romanian vehicles purchased in

leasing system were taken to ex-Soviet Union states or Arabic states

PL

A
CH
 Modus operandi
 Theft committed in different ways

 Fraud on the insurance, reporting of “theft” is made in the origin

country after registering the vehicle in Romania.

 Renting vehicles from “rent-a-car” companies is made with false

documents, forged ownership documents and vehicles are registrated
abroad. After 2007 the Romanian Police received more than 300
complaints about nationals who rented expensive cars from West-
European rent-a-car companies and didn”t return them.

 Purchasing vehicles in leasing system with forged documents or by

obtaining them from persons who can not pay the rates anymore. In the
last period is the main modus operandi, especially for the vehicles
registered in Romania, which are taken to the countries with a large
Romanian community, such as Spain or Italy, or to the Arabic countries.

 Modification of VIN and issuing false documents

 Legal procedure and International Collaboration
in Recovery of vehicles searched by other
countries and seized in Romania

- all the vehicles who come in Romania for

registration are verified in SIS and ASF-
INTERPOL;
- if there is a positive hit, the vehicle is seized:
- the case officer informs the foreign authorities
(through SIS and Interpol) about the
identification of the vehicle;
- in case a crime was comitted on Romanian
teritory, the investigation is lunched under a
prosecutor supervision
 IDENTIFIED PROBLEMS

- in some cases in Romania there are no crimes comitted;

- the vehicle is seized and for repatriation our prosecutor need an
SEIZE ORDER or CONFISCATION ORDER, issued by the state
who started international pursuit of the vehicle, as established by
European Council through Frame Decision 2003//577/JAI.
- the answers from other countries come very late (especialy from Italy)
- the SIS wordings are not filled in details. We should know precisely
what vehicle crime was comitted, who is the owner, modus operandi
etc.
- if the owner from other state doesn”t want to recover the vehicle you
must send us an information about his point of view and also stop the
international pursuit of the vehicles;
- we have many vehicles seized a few years ago, the foreign owner is an
inssurance company who didn’t come to recover the vehicle but the
vehicle is even now in SIS and ASF.
 Legal procedure and International Collaboration
in Recovery of vehicles searched by Romania

- Criminal Investigation Directorate has detected a problem

in the last years regarding leasing vehicles, which are
imediately carried in Germany, Spain, Italy and the Arabic
states;
- the suspects pay 2-3 rates for the leasing contract and
meanwhile the vehicle is registered abroad:
- when the leasing company makes a complaint the vehicle
may be registered in a second foreign country;
- in most cases, the suspects used false documents, so is
very difficult to be identified
 IDENTIFIED PROBLEMS

- the foreign authorities must check the vehicle in all basis

when it is presented for registration, including EUCARIS;
- if there is a doubt regarding the authenticity of the
documents the foreign authority should take supllimentary
checks;
- when we ask for details about the registration, documents
used and persons involved, the answers from other
countries come very late, including SIS wordings
(especialy from Italy)
 GOOD FAITH OWNER

- Is one of the main problem of international vehicle traffiking;

- In Romania about 70% of the buyers know that the vehicle has a
problem, but it is hard for the police to prove that;
- The countries want to protect their nationals, but we should not forget
that when you buy a vehicle at 50-60 % of its market value, with only
one original key and with false documents, there is a reasonable doubt
about your good faith;
- Every buyer should be obliged by legislation to do all possible check
before making the transaction;
- Also, the Registration Authorities must check the vehicle and its
documents properly before the transaction; it is better for the police
investigations that registration operations last more days than to loose
a stolen vehicle
 TIMISOARA CASE
 In february-june 2012 TT TRANS COMPANY
from Timisoara City took in leasing 31 vehicles
from 4 leasing companies;
 the contracts were signed by Kire Mircheski, a
macedonian citizen, as administrator of the society
 all the vehicles were imediately carried out and
registered in Germany on Romanian nationals,
with export license plates;
 the 4 leasing companies made in July 2012 different
complaints against Kire Mircheski as administrator
of the society
 TIMISOARA CASE -2
 Kire Mircheski had left the Romanian teritory in June 2012 and
was unreachable;
 in the end of Octomber 2012 we received an information about
some unidentified suspects who were involved in the criminal
act;
 In collaboration with a prosecutor from the Prosecutor’s Office
attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice we took over
the case in november 2012;
 We established that Kire Mircheski was used by the other
criminals only to sign the contracts;
 the criminal activity was led by a group of 4 persons, 2 from
Valcea City, 1 from Bucharest and 1 from Timisoara. They used
false documents and names.
 on 19th february 2013 a complex action was organised, in
Bucharest, Timisoara, Arad, Valcea and Giurgiu and 30 persons,
suspects and witness, were conducted to our headquarters
 TIMISOARA CASE -3
 After the hearings, 12 defendants were arested by Valcea
Court of Justice;
 Only 2 suspects were not found on Romanian teritory: 1 of
the leaders, SERBAN LUCIAN, and Kire Mircheski. For
them the Court issued default warrants;
 more rogatory comissions were sent to the competent
Judicial Authorities of the Germany, Netherlands, France,
Poland, Lithuania and Sweden;
 only Poland and Lithuania sent their answers in a
reasonable time;
 more group members were in Germany and acquired
German registration numbers for the vehicles. We asked
the German authorities to identify these suspects and
proceed to the hearings of them and of the German citizens
involved in the vehicles transactions.
 TIMISOARA CASE -4
 In 10 th of June 2013 the case was finished by advancing it to the Court;
 16 defendants were sent in front of the judge, for the perpetration of the
following offences: misleading with very serious consequences, in
continued form, forgery in official documents under private signature,
perjury and aiding and abetting a criminal;
 1 of them was a Police Officer, working at Intelligence Division, who
teached the suspects how to escape lawsuit;
 SERBAN LUCIAN wasn’t found; an international arrest warrant is
issued on his name from February 2013; on 25.06.2013 the German
authorities inform us through SIS that Serban Lucian comitted on
04.06.2013 a car accident in Verden-Germany. We asked for details and
the answer was that he is searched by German police for comitting a car
accident with injuries (date 16.07.2013- last answer of Germany);
 the answers for the rogatory comissions reached the Prosecutor Office
after the case had been sent in front of the judge (5-7 months after the
requests had been sent). No Romanian national living in Germany were
taken statements.
THANK YOU!