Police arrest four and recover £600,000 worth of stolen cars bound for Democratic Republic of Congo

Published 4 November 2026, 13:38

• Officers in the Greater Manchester crackdown intercepted seven international shipments and recovered 19 stolen cars worth nearly £600,000.
• Detective Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes warned criminals to 'expect an early wake up call'.
• Two men in their 30s, a man in his 40s and a woman in her 30s remain in custody.

Four people have been arrested in early-morning raids targeting an organised crime group suspected of stealing cars and shipping them to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Officers from Greater Manchester Police's Force Intelligence Branch and Tactical Aid Unit hit three residential addresses and a storage unit across north Manchester and Oldham on Wednesday 4 November, executing warrants at Middleton Road in Oldham and at St Augustine Street, Foynes Close and Kingsbridge Road in Harpurhey.

Four people were taken into custody on suspicion of plotting to steal cars and to deal in stolen cars: two men in their 30s, a man in his 40s, and a woman in her 30s.

All four remained in custody.

The operation recovered 19 stolen vehicles linked to the crime group, worth a combined total of nearly £600,000, and intercepted seven international shipments, according to the Greater Manchester Police release.

Detective Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes, who heads the Force Intelligence Branch, said the group had been trafficking and exporting stolen cars across the UK before shipping them thousands of miles abroad.

"Organised vehicle criminals often think they can operate in the shadows, stealing cars for profit and shipping them thousands of miles away beyond the reach of law enforcement," he said.

Hughes described the activity as "a national threat," adding that "stolen vehicles present significant dangers on our roads, they destroy lives and they are incompatible with our mission to keep the public safe."

He was direct about the human cost: "Every stolen vehicle has a victim behind it. A family unable to get their children to school, a worker unable to earn a living, a business disrupted. The offenders we targeted today see cars as a commodity, but we see the victims behind them."

Hughes also pointed to a broader downward trend in vehicle theft across the region.

Annual vehicle theft in Greater Manchester exceeded 8,000 cases per year until six years ago.

That figure has fallen by almost 40% over five years to around 5,000 a year, driven by focused enforcement efforts, investigations guided by intelligence, and collaborative working.

"While that progress is significant, we know there is still more work to do," he said.

He warned that the force would not ease up: "The individuals involved in organised vehicle crime often believe they are one step ahead, but we will continue to use every tactic available to identify offenders and recover stolen vehicles."

Hughes closed with a direct message to criminals: "If you choose to profit from crime in Greater Manchester, you should expect an early wake up call, like these four individuals had this morning."