Skip to main content

Fleet-tracking technology aids arrest of car-theft gang

According to figures published by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, about 150,000 vehicles were stolen in Spain during 2013. According to Spanish communications specialist GMV, most drivers are unaware that a tracking device will make it much harder for thieves. Last November, a vehicle fitted with GMV’s fleet-tracking and -management system Moviloc was stolen in Madrid. The car owner reported the theft to the police and showed them the vehicle’s last recorded position on the tracking device. They w
July 31, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

According to figures published by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, about 150,000 vehicles were stolen in Spain during 2013. According to Spanish communications specialist 55 GMV, most drivers are unaware that a tracking device will make it much harder for thieves.

Last November, a vehicle fitted with GMV’s fleet-tracking and -management system Moviloc was stolen in Madrid. The car owner reported the theft to the police and showed them the vehicle’s last recorded position on the tracking device. They were then able to pinpoint the warehouse where the stolen vehicles were taken before being broken up and taken off to Poland.

The seven-month investigation enabled police to identify parts corresponding to 13 stolen vehicles and arrest two Poles who were working from the warehouse in the industrial estate.

“Moviloc offers a wide range of services and functions to give users exhaustive control over all driver activity, recording, for example, the runs and mileage and also whether the scheduled routes were covered in due time and form, all in real time”, explains Ramón Dávila, product head of Moviloc. “The report offered by this service tells you the number of stops made by any vehicle during any working day, the place and the time each stop lasted. All this information gives an instant snapshot of the vehicle’s movements on any particular day”.

“The onboard equipment is fitted invisibly so that no thief is aware of the tracking device”, explained a police spokesman.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • DriveWyze wireless Preclear system speeds weighstation waiting
    March 1, 2013
    Drivewyze aims to revolutionise the way weighstation bypass systems work with its Pre-Clear system. And it’s not just looking at weighstations, either… Pete Goldin reports. Truck drivers know the drill: pull off the high­way at every weighstation and wait. Carriers know the drill, too: every minute spent waiting there translates directly into dollars lost. Traditionally, the only alternative to this scenario is a transponder-based system, which allows trucks to bypass the sites using technology similar to
  • ITS benefits escape public
    June 8, 2015
    John Kendall considers the public’s awareness of the benefits of ITS. While the results of developing ITS technology may be clear to readers of ITS International, there is far less evidence that drivers have any appreciation of what the technology is doing for them. So how aware are drivers of the developments that are designed to make their journeys less congested and safer?
  • Inrix aids authorities in dealing with data
    August 18, 2015
    New traffic data products and services have been launched to aid transport and urban planners and business with detailed intelligence on journey patterns, reports Jon Masters. Manual travel surveys ought soon to become a thing of the past for transport planners and the business community. The technology now exists for getting sophisticated levels of traffic and trip data from connected vehicles. Cars and commercial fleets carrying a GPS device, or a mobile phone or smartphone are the sources of the informat
  • Hartford’s tailors winter maintenance on Esri’s GIS platform
    August 5, 2016
    The in-house winter maintenance and vehicle tracking system built by the Public Works Department in Hartford, Connecticut, coped with record snowfalls and cut costs too. When it comes to dealing with the effects of mother nature, transport agencies can find themselves in a lose-lose situation: criticised if the roads or rail lines are disrupted by snow, ice or floods for more than a few hours and lambasted for wasting money if the equipment and stockpiles put in place for a hard winter remain unused.