Senior Reporter
otto.carrington@cnc3.co.tt
A dumping ground for a vehicle theft ring has been uncovered in Valencia, putting law enforcement and private security on high alert.
The site, located along Cumaca Road in Valencia, was discovered a month ago after surveillance by Estate Police Officers and Air Support Tactical Security Limited.
Speaking to Guardian Media, Chief Executive Officer Dirk Barnes said the thieves were taking the cars to areas without GPS coverage for dismantling.
He said, “In the past, we’ve had quite a few stolen vehicles end up on this side. Typically, the car thieves would steal a vehicle around two o’clock in the morning, bring it to this location, strip the cars, and attempt to deactivate the GPS tracking devices and the car is basically lost.”
“They could spend two to three hours at this location taking a car apart and then, as you can see, disposing of the contents of the vehicle.”
At the site, Guardian Media observed remnants of personal effects such as insurance policies, car steering wheel covers, and various general items from cars.
Barnes said this was one of many locations, adding, “We have locations in Cunupia, Tamana and Biche, and in rural areas where cell sites are further apart and car thieves tend to operate more frequently. They find comfort operating in the East-West Corridor, where they are more familiar and comfortable.
Due to the lack of coverage, Barnes said, his company is now forced to upgrade its technology.
“These intelligence-led operations have revealed the types of technology car thieves are using. We’ve encountered jammers and seen videos where they’re using laptops to remotely start cars. We know they’re using man-in-the-middle attacks, so we have decided to upgrade our technology,” he said.
“Our GPS tracking devices have become smaller and now contain more microprocessing power. They are now more like minicomputers than just GPS trackers. This enhancement allows us to track vehicles beyond the GPS signal, so if the GPS signal is jammed, we can still track our vehicles. We recently introduced this advanced technology and are one of the first companies to offer such a cutting-edge solution.”
Barnes said they noticed car thieves were operating very efficiently and boldly, stealing two or three cars a night.
“At that point, we decided to work with the TTPS to gather more information on them, he said.
“What we can say is that they were not on TTPS’s radar—no one knew they existed, and there were no prior records of their activities. However, during an operation led by our company in this area a few months ago, we cornered one of the car thieves who chose to wait us out. We managed to recover our customer’s vehicle and, in the process, identified the thief.”
Since the discovery, the Eastern Division of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service has increased patrols in the area.
