A total of 144 (2020: 149) pleasure craft and 540 (541) outboard motors were stolen in Germany. The total amount of damage is around 4.9 million euros. Most boats were stolen in North Rhine-Westphalia (26), while Brandenburg has been in first place for engines for many years (102). This is according to the recently published balance sheet of the Competence Centre for Boat Crime.
Due in part to the coronavirus travel restrictions still in place in 2021, the number of thefts in Germany remained at almost the same low level as in the previous year. However, experts are now expecting a significant increase, especially in the area of engines.
Demand is higher than ever before, and spare parts and new engines are hardly available or only available with long waiting times due to the current market shortage in all areas.
The Baden-Württemberg Competence Centre for Boat Crime began its work 21 years ago and has been coordinating searches for stolen recreational boats, outboard motors and recreational boat trailers in Germany ever since. And with success: while there were 988 stolen outboards in 2018, there were 448 fewer cases in 2021. The work of the investigators has a Europe-wide focus and is closely linked to the European border protection agency Frontex and Europol in particular.
In addition to operations in Romania, the team from Constance was also able to successfully assist their colleagues from Austria in one case. A charter sailing yacht sailing under the Austrian flag and worth 200,000 euros had disappeared in Cape Verde. Through clarifications with experts from Hamburg, who also work internationally, it was finally possible to identify Senegal as the yacht's destination. There, at the instigation of the Austrian police, the vessel was finally seized by the Senegalese coastguard and the crew arrested.
The investigators expressly warn against "lazy" sales offers on the Internet, especially in connection with outboard motors. These are sometimes labelled with professionally falsified serial numbers and are difficult for laypersons to unmask as stolen goods. Stolen sports boats are also offered on the Internet with histories that appear plausible at first glance. Caution is always advised when documents are missing and the history is unclear, according to the officials.
