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 News from Around the Americas | August 2007 
47 Stolen Cars to be Returned to Mexico
 Anna Cearley - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| | A stolen 1968 Corvette was recovered on the docks of Long Beach, CA, and returned to its Manhattan, NY, owner 37 years after thieves drove off with it. |
A recent investigation into cars stolen in Mexico that end up north of the border yielded 47 cars that are being returned to their Mexican owners.
The Mexican-registered cars were found Friday, most of them in impound yards in San Ysidro and Chula Vista, when Baja California investigators accompanied California Highway Patrol officers in a joint operation.
CHP Lt. John Marinez said similar investigations regularly take place in Mexico, and just two months ago 77 stolen U.S. cars were found in Mexican impound lots.
They have helped us greatly in that regard, so we thought we would look into the possibility of locating some of their stolen vehicles on our side of the border, Marinez said.
Jaime Niebla, a Tijuana-based state police commander, said Mexican authorities would like to continue these operations on a weekly basis focusing on cars confiscated by U.S. authorities but Marinez said no schedule has been determined.
It is more common for cars to be stolen in the United States for use in Mexico than for stolen cars to move in the other direction. Last year, the CHP recovered 4,094 cars in Mexico with a cumulative value of $5.7 million, Marinez said.
But stolen Mexican cars do end up in the United States. Sometimes the cars are used for illegal activities, such as transporting contraband.
That appears to have been the case with most of the cars identified Friday. The majority were confiscated by U.S. border authorities, said Marinez, though a few were found at shopping mall parking lots.
Mexican authorities said they targeted cars with Mexican plates or those with no plates because this prevents stolen Mexican cars from being registered in the United States.
That has become a problem over the past 10 years. Cross-border criminal rings in particular have made a business of selling stolen Mexican cars in the United States. They can do this, in part, because the registration process doesn't typically involve checking vehicle records in Mexico.
Mexican authorities said they are notifying the Mexican owners of the 47 cars found Friday and talking with U.S. authorities about getting the cars back to Mexico and other details, such as who is responsible for paying the storage fees charged by the impound yards.
Anna Cearley: (619) 542-4595; anna.cearley@uniontrib.com |
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