The thieves didn't get far with the BMW X5M before the police showed up
In the middle of the night, a man wakes up to a sound outside his residence on Lidingö in Stockholm. The sound is loud, deep and it's close. He quickly realizes that this is the sound of his own car. A BMW X5M with 575 horsepower under the hood. In other words, it's not a theft that happens quietly.
- It's audacious to go into another person's property and steal something. But when the car you steal is an BMW x5M with 575 horsepower, this is a theft that literally attracts attention, says Espen Ranvik, CEO of GSGroup.
The car owner himself is probably not the only one who notices the BMW skidding out of the driveway in the middle of the night.
Looking out the window and seeing the red taillights as the car disappears out of one's own courtyard in the middle of the night – it must be like a nightmare and something you hope never happens, says Ranvik.
Tracking technology gives police an edge
The questions arise quickly: How did they get into the car? Both keys are inside the house. Now, however, it is urgent to connect more resources to get the car back.
The X5 is equipped with Spotguard tracking device from GSGroup. The customer calls the alarm phone and tells them what has happened. A search for the BMW is immediately started, explains Sales Director Recovery in GSGroup, Klas Wassberg.
- We quickly get a position on the car and contact the police. Shortly after they are able to locate and stop the car in Sigtuna 50 km north of the theft site. The police then take the car in for technical examination to secure fingerprints and DNA, because this is a unique opportunity for trace evidence and further investigation, says Wassberg.
Three different radio technologies give good results
Since 1992, GSGroup has been working and developing tracking technology, and during that time a lot has happened.
- We use three radio technologies to recover stolen cars. It gives us the advantage of narrowing down the area of the car’s whereabouts more quickly. When the police, in cooperation with us, move out, we can start using technology that is best at targeting a smaller and limited area. We see that this is of great importance to us because it is urgent to catch the thieves before they drive the cars out of the country, says Wassberg.
Not many such cars are recovered so quickly. Most of this type are gone forever, once they are stolen.
- We suspect there are professional leagues stealing these kinds of cars, and BMWs of this type are especially popular, Wassberg says.
The BMW is a 2017 model and has a market value of just over half a million Swedish kronor.
