Phaeton nicked in Austria found by Romanian police

A Volkswagen (VW) limousine worth 100,000 Euros which was nicked in Austria has reappeared in Romania.Specialised car theft investigators of the domestic police force said today (Fri) that they had discovered the Phaeton in a garage in the city of Petrosani. The expensive limousine was reported as stolen by its owner in Austria two weeks ago, according to a report by the Romanian Times online news website.A spokesman for Romanian police said: “The garage owner told us the car belonged to an acquaintance who is currently out of the country. We will continue to investigate the case.”Austrian police said recently that Romania was one of the main “destination countries” for vehicles stolen in Austria. They explained that organised gangs would work together to nick the cars and sell them in Eastern Europe (EE) as whole vehicles, broken up into their most usable and valuable parts in cases of older models.Efforts by officials in Austria to crack down on soaring car thefts were apparently successful last year when fewer than 2,700 cars were reported as being stolen. Nearly 5,300 cars were nicked across the country in the year before.Around 25,500 new cars were sold in Austria last month, up by 22.5 per cent compared to figures registered in January 2010.