Stolen engines seized in raid on suspected West Bromwich chop shop

Police have seized a stash of stolen car parts after raiding a scrap yard in West Bromwich suspected of being used as a ‘chop shop’.

Officers executed a warrant at the site off Kelvin Way, West Bromwich last Thursday (April 7) on the back of intelligence suggesting it was handling and breaking down stolen vehicles.

West Midlands Police spent two days at the yard sifting through an array of engines, gearboxes and body shells primarily from high-end luxury cars.

Several have been identified as being cut from stolen cars, including two Mercedes AMGs stolen from the same address in Walsall in February, a BMW M4 stolen in Wolverhampton in January, and a Range Rover taken last Boxing Day in Coventry.

Police also seized an Audi Q3, a BMW and a Land Rover for examination.

Specialist vehicle examiner is now liaising with car manufacturers in the UK and Europe in a bid to establish the true identity of other parts seized.

We arrested three men at the scrap yard on suspicion of handling stolen goods and car theft.

The men – two aged 28 and a 22-year-old – were questioned and later released under investigation.

What has West Midlands Police said about the operation?

Inspector Glynis Tomlinson from Sandwell Police said: “This is a significant find and we suspect many of the parts we’ve recovered have been taken from vehicles stolen in car-key burglaries.

“We suspect this is a well-organised criminal operation posing as a legitimate salvage yard.

“The warrant saw our neighbourhood officers team up with a drone unit, the local police taskforce and two police dogs to ensure we had good control of the units while searches were carried out.

“We’re really grateful for information passed to us and will always take it seriously. And as this case illustrates we will take action to disrupt suspected criminality.”

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. BirminghamWorld is Birmingham’s latest news website, championing everything that is great about our city - reporting on news, lifestyle and sport. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.