A ring of thieves swiped 20 luxury cars from a Queens dealership over the weekend, and cops now fear the rides will be used in robberies and burglaries in the city.
“We know in the past, these went overseas, but now we’re seeing with autos, they’re used in crimes,” NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig told reporters Monday. “You know, they ride around the city doing gunpoint robberies at smoke shops, on the street corners.
“Our feeling is just based on the way crime is going, people taking these cars, they will use these 20 cars in multiple robberies and burglaries throughout the city, switching plates on and off and on and off,” he said.
Six men had walked onto the lot of a Mitsubishi dealership at 156-02 Liberty Ave. in Jamaica and made off with their hefty vehicle haul within 20 hours, police said.
The incident took place in Jamaica, Queens. MediaNews Group via Getty Images
Six men were able to take off with the vehicles within 20 hours. Gado via Getty ImagesThey took keys from inside an office and began removing the Acuras, BMW’s, Mercedes Benzes and Audis — with 20 vehicles gone by Monday, cops said.
All the vehicles were manufactured between 2016 and 2019.
Cops on patrol in the NYPD’s 70 Precinct in Brooklyn found one of the stolen Audis, cops said. All of the cars were without plates.
