Peterborough gang member who stole £200,000 of cars jailed

Valdas Raudis, 43, was identified as part of a police investigation where he was linked to keyless car thefts across the city.

The investigation found he had used specialist equipment to scan and obtain victims’ car key fob frequencies from within houses and drive the vehicles away without detection.

Raudis, who has previously been convicted of similar thefts in Lithuania and Germany, was the partner in crime of Paulius Puras who was convicted earlier this year and received a 28-month prison sentence.

Puras helped Raudis with eight of the ten thefts which took place between 13 June and 18 October last year. The cars taken were:

Nissan Qashqai in Thorney

Volvo XC60 in Stanground

Kia Sportage in Werrington

Land Rover Discovery in Orton Northgate

Kia Sportage in Orton Wistow

Hyundai Tucson in Northborough

Kia Sportage in Stanground

Nissan Juke in Stanground

Nissan Juke in Werrington

Ford Mondeo Vignale in Parnwell

Six out of the ten vehicles were recovered by police after being hidden in communal car parks across Peterborough.

On 5 March, 2020, officers conducted a warrant at Raudis’ home address in West Town, Peterborough, where they found and arrested him.

After he was arrested officers searched his property and found a cannabis production set up in the loft, later valued at £12,700. They also seized £11,655 in cash.

Raudis appeared at Peterborough Crown Court on 3 April where he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal motor vehicles, production of cannabis, possession of criminal property and abstracting electricity.

He was sentenced today (12 May) at Cambridge Crown Court to three years and eight months in prison.

PC Craig Trevor said: “This result today comes from nine months of investigation into Raudis and Puras’ criminal activities committing keyless vehicle thefts. Their actions had a significant impact on the victims as most of the vehicles stolen were family SUVs so parents were left without transport to go to work or take their children to school.

“We are committed to disrupting organised crime and I am pleased today Raudis has been brought to justice for his actions.

“Raudis and Puras took advantage of flaws in modern vehicle security. I would highly recommend all owners of keyless entry/start vehicles in Cambridgeshire look at purchasing foil-lined pouches for both sets of their vehicle’s key fobs to block them from emitting a frequency and also consider securing their vehicles with low-tech items such as ‘pedal boxes’ which block offenders from accessing the ignition pedal at night.”

More information about vehicle security can be found on the force website here https://www.cambs.police.uk/A-Z/Vehicle-security.