Thieves steal $4.8M worth of Jaguar Land Rover engines

Thieves have stolen roughly $4.8 million dollars’ worth of engines from a Jaguar Land Rover plant in Solihull in the UK, allegedly using a prime mover – itself also suspected to be stolen - to tow away two trailers full of brand-new motors.

The theft occurred late on Tuesday evening last week, but was far from a Fast And The Furious-style escapade. Instead, the thieves calmly drove their truck into the plant, collected paperwork from the site to facilitate their exit, then hooked up a trailer full of engines before driving away.

Their confidence must have been high, for the thieves returned to the scene to steal a second engine-laden trailer. West Midlands police have since found the trailers, however the engines they contained had vanished.

Details of precisely how many engines have been stolen aren’t yet available, nor is it clear what type of engines they were. JLR’s high-performance supercharged 5.0-litre V8 would surely have made for an enticing target, though the more pedestrian diesel engines and petrol four-pots that power the bulk of Jaguar and Land Rover’s offerings would undoubtedly be easier to sell.

The theft has echoes of a similar crime committed in South Australia at the start of the decade. Holden was the target of that particular heist, which saw seven people – including at least one Holden employee – involved in stealing and selling over 140 V8 engines and 175 transmissions from Holden’s Elizabeth assembly plant over a period of two years.

All seven were arrested in 2012, with the Holden insider sentenced to two years prison for his role in the crime. The value of the engines and transmissions that were pinched from under Holden’s nose was estimated to be around $2.5 million.

Will the bold criminals who snatched two truckloads of JLR engines similarly face justice? Her Majesty’s finest are on the case, and a reward is being offered for more information.