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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Joe Thomas

Inside the illegal chop shop where more than 100 vehicles have been ripped apart

Footage obtained by the ECHO offers a glimpse of a chop shop operation thought to be one of the biggest ever uncovered by Merseyside Police.

Car seats, wheels and chassis lie strewn across the floor of an Aintree warehouse raided by search teams earlier this year.

Several cars - including a Volkswagen Golf - remain intact, suggesting they were next in line to be chopped up and sold on.

So far parts from 95 different vehicles have been identified as having been used in the operation, with that number expected to rise well into three figures.

Police busted the Sugar Street enterprise in January after tracking a Mercedes stolen from a well-to-do Southport neighbourhood back to the warehouse.

When search teams executed a warrant on the Hartley's Village property , officers discovered the collection of suspected stolen vehicles and parts believed to be from stolen cars.

A van containing vehicle parts was seized, alongside a car which was found in a car park on site and suspected of being stolen, as well as two off-road bikes.

Sugar Street, Aintree. (Andrew Teebay/Liverpool Echo)

This footage shows officers looking through the site last month.

Speaking about the raid in April, Det Sgt Alan Nuttall said: "Our officers have done a great deal of meticulous forensic work since the cars were discovered in January, and they continue to work tirelessly to gather intelligence, identify offenders and reunite any stolen cars with their owners."

One of the largest previously discovered ‘chop shops’ - where stolen vehicles are dismantled so parts can be sold on - was uncovered in Kirkby, and involved as many as 70 vehicles. That scam was valued at more than £1m.

*Anyone with information is asked to contact Merseyside Police's social media desk on Twitter (@MerPolCC) or Facebook (Merseyside Police CC). You can also call 101 quoting incident reference 752 of January 2 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or via their online form

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