Armenia, a destination of posh cars hijacked from all over Europe

Recently Armenia is often mentioned in records of law enforcement agencies in many countries as a destination of cars hijacked from all over Europe. 

It appears that many Armenians living in Europe have been involved in this criminal activity.

Given the big demand in Armenia in expensive cars such as Bentley and BMW-650, Armenian criminal groups have focused on these vehicles, which they sell to government officials and members of law-enforcement agencies back home. Cars with a market value of 100,000 euros are offered for just 25,000 euros after being hijacked into the country.

Armenian buyers are certainly happy to pay so little for the expensive cars.

The criminal activities of Armenian hijackers are dealing a serious blow to insurance companies in Europe. Insurance is mandatory for all cars purchased across the Europe Union. As the hijackers target particularly brand new cars, insurance companies have to cover the cost after cars are stolen. In most of the countries in Europe, insurance companies fully cover the cost of cars within the first year of purchase.

The hijackers use illegal means to get the cars into Armenia. The search for the cars via the Interpol is not effective as the Armenian office of Interpol gets bribes - $2,000 to $5,000 depending on the model - to cover up the crimes. 

Interpol does not show much interest in searching for the cars as the buyers are usually high-ranking government and security officials.

The illegal criminal activities of Armenians have already drawn the attention of law-enforcement agencies in a number of countries of the European Union. They have decided to establish a single operational and search group to track down the organizers and members of the Armenian organized criminal group. The investigators pay particular attention to links between the Armenian criminal group and drug dealers.