Overview

• The task force Panthera was created by the Hamburg Landeskriminalamt in mid-2024 to target thefts of high-end Porsche and Land Rover SUVs.
• Operations have yielded 16 arrests and initial convictions in March 2025, with suspects receiving multi-year prison terms.
• Vehicle theft rates in Hamburg have fallen by 40 percent since those key arrests, signalling a lasting impact on organized rings.
• Investigators uncovered a three-tier criminal model of local organizers, security-bypass experts and couriers and traced cross-border routes through Poland, Lithuania and a Belgian forgery workshop.
• The next phase will seek extraditions of ringleaders based in Southeast Europe, the Middle East and Africa to shut down residual cells.