Baltic gang face charges after stealing over 100 BMW’s

An eastern European crime gang has allegedly stolen 120 expensive BMW automobiles in Northern Ireland and shipped their parts to Latvia.

British police arrested four suspects on May 27 - Rolandas Ruokis, 30, of Lithuania, and three residents of Latvia - Jevgenis Drozdovs, 31, Vitalijs Klagiss, 29, and Igors Matvejevs, 34.

Drozdovs was charged at the beginning of July and is remanded in custody until the next court hearing. Ruokis and Klagiss have been released on bail, both are prohibited from leaving the country.

The Dublin based gang used a sophisticated cross-border key cloning racket to steal the automobiles. Officers discovered eight vehicles, six of them BMW's, and parts believed to have been taken from other stolen cars.

Investigators indicate that the stolen automobiles were disassembled and shipped to Latvia.