The theft of automobiles is a significant world-wide crime problem. More than three million motor cars are stolen in the world each year. INTERPOL estimates the value of vehicles stolen from just 45 countries, including Europe, North America, and regions of Africa and Asia, at USD 21 billion.

'This is a huge and important profit for the criminal world', said INTERPOL's Secretary General Ronald K. Noble as he opened the Transcontinental Organised Vehicle Crime Symposium in Lyon, France, today. 'Such profits can be used to support and strengthen criminal or terrorist organisations while destabilising developing nations, he continued.'

Trafficking in vehicles is mainly the work of structured and sophisticated criminal groups which are global in nature and include other cross-crime areas. For example, Germany is facing an increase in theft of rental cars by African nationals who use forged passports to illegally obtain credit cards and then cars from rental companies. Italy and Greece are concerned by Albanian criminal groups who are actively engaged in car smuggling. Violence is an increased 'modus operandi' to obtain luxury cars for exportation. The South African region is used by organised criminal groups from Pakistan and Japan as a transit area to export stolen luxury vehicles to Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other Asian countries.

INTERPOL's Automated Search Facility database for stolen motor vehicles, developed four years ago, today contains records for more than 2.5 million stolen cars from 59 countries. Over 80 countries regularly query the database 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to determine if a car has been registered as stolen. There are over 1.000 hits per month on the database representing in many cases not only the return of the vehicle but leads for police to follow in attacking the criminal organization.

'This a great success', INTERPOL's chief said. He told symposium participants of INTERPOL's readiness to further improve service to its member countries in this area, including a "one stop shop" strategy saving time that can be used for intelligence and investigative work.