stolen costly cars of UK land in Uganda !!

There were many colonies of Britain and some of them still follow the legacy – including driving on left……….. It is more than 4000 miles away from London……. the African Nation of Uganda – the  opposition leaders of Uganda  have  arrived in Kenya  for an unprecedented meeting with Cord leader RailaOdinga, Kenyan Politician.  It is reported that they are seeking views on fielding a joint presidential candidate against President YoweriMuseveni in next year's general election.Raila is expected to mediate between them and implore the leaders on the need to field one candidate to face Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.

Buganda is a subnational kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Ganda people, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda, comprising all of Uganda's Central Region, including the Ugandan capital Kampala. The 6 million Baganda make up the largest Ugandan ethnic group, representing approximately 16.9% of Uganda's population. Buganda has a long and extensive history. Unified in the fourteenth century under the first king Kato Kintu, the founder of Buganda's Kintu Dynasty, Buganda grew to become one of the largest and most powerful states in East Africa during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Under British rule, many Baganda acquired status as colonial administrators, and Buganda became a major producer of cotton and coffee.Following Uganda's independence in 1962, the kingdom was abolished by Uganda's first Prime Minister Milton Obote in 1966.

Kampala is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning. On the shores of Lake Victoria, with code ‘Ebb’is Entebbe that has the International airport on a spectacular location on a peninsula that juts into the lake.   British Airways has flown between Heathrow and Entebbe for decades, there appears no Ugandan carrier to London. 

MailOnline reports of a direct trade link – a different one at that.Police tracking a Lexus people carrier tracked the luxury vehicle to Uganda – once there, the officers were shocked to find it among other stolen cars.  Stolen British vehicles worth £1million were found in several warehouses ~~ and they  are likely to represent just a fraction of the cars smuggled out the UK

Detectives tracing a Lexus stolen from London have ended up tracking it to Uganda - where it was found alongside a fleet of British cars worth more than £1 million.The £50,000 SUV was fitted with a state-of-the-art tracking device, which activated as soon as it was taken from outside a property in west London.As a result the National Crime Agency was able to use a smartphone app to trace the journey of the stolen RX450h 6,000 miles to the Uganda capital Kampala, where they were stunned to find it alongside 28 other luxury cars which had been stolen from the UK by the car-smuggling gang.

Luxury right-hand-drive cars are in great demand in land-locked Uganda, where locals still drive on the left as part of the British colonial legacy but import companies struggle to transport new vehicles.The stolen Lexus was tracked to Le Havre, in France, where it was shipped across the Mediterranean Sea and through the Suez Canal down to the Middle Eastern nation of Oman. It was then shipped to Mombasa in Kenya before being transported by road to Kampala - where locals drive on the right-hand side - in a steel container. 

The stolen Lexus which led to the discovery of the smuggling ring was taken in April, and later tracked to Le Havre, in France, where it was shipped across the Mediterranean Sea and through the Suez Canal down to the Middle Eastern nation of Oman.The tracking app even allowed police to identify how corrupt officials in both Kenya and Uganda, infiltrate the criminal syndicate and understand its operation.

Organised criminal gangs are increasingly targeting high-value cars – largely 4x4s – with keyless security systems, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders warned last year.Thieves are able to bypass security by using equipment intended only for mechanics – while manufacturers try to stay one step ahead by updating software. National Crime Agency that tracked the vehicle and uncovered the smuggling gang, said: 'This investigation is an excellent example of the close co-operation between the UK National Crime Agency, National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service, Interpol and [anti-fraud investigators] APU to tackle the increasing threat from organised vehicle crime.

Although a few arrests have been made, it is clear that the smuggling of cars from Britain to Uganda represents a huge criminal conspiracy.  The reason the cars were taken to Uganda, it seems, is that there is demand for right-hand-drive cars in the African country where, as a result of itsits British colonial legacy, people drive on the left-hand side.  It is believed that all of the stolen vehicles were equipped with keyless ignition, which the criminals managed to breach by using reprogrammed keys to start the cars up and drive off.Car manufacturers, insurance companies and police forces are facing an uphill battle against the sophisticated method.Since the start of the year, more than 40,000 cars have been stolen in London with a quarter of these using keyless technology.

In upmarket Kensington and Chelsea, officers are now stopping high-end vehicles being driven in the area after midnight, when many vehicle thefts take place.The fleet of stolen cars, mainly made up of Range Rovers, BMWs, Audis and other prestige makes, is now in the process of being shipped back to the UK.

Sophisticated technology and crime network !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

6^th Oct 2015.