West Midlands Police recently warned owners following a spate of thefts

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The Midland-made 4x4s have been revealed as a top target for thieves.

It comes after more than a third of recovered vehicles last year were Range Rovers or Land Rovers.

Three stolen JLR cars, worth more than £200,000, were discovered in an Essex shipping containers amid amid huge demand for them in Eastern Europe and the far East, reports BirminghamLive.

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A Range Rover Sport was discovered by a tracker firm at a shipping container depot in Stanford-le-hope just 17 hours after it had been reported stolen from Hertfordshire.

Two of the same type were also found in the container.

West Midlands police recently issued a warning to all 4x4 owners after one Range was stolen in just 40 seconds.

Last week research conducted by Global Telemetrics revealed the Range Rover as topping a top 10 list of the most stolen cars in the UK.

The impact of the pandemic, car parts shortage and availability of both new and used cars, has worsened car thefts, said Clive Wain, head of police liaison for high-end car recovery firm Tracker Network (UK) Ltd.

He said: “These prestige vehicles are being targeted by criminal gangs.

"The impact of covid, car parts shortage and availability of new and used cars has only exacerbated the issue in recent months.

"It is therefore not surprising to see that these cars were found at a shipping container depot, as there is a clear demand for these models in territories like Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia.

"In recent years, Tracker along with the police have intercepted and recovered thousands of vehicles at UK ports destined to be shipped to foreign shores."

CoventryLive also found that there has been a number of Range Rover thefts across Coventry in the last few months.

On January 8, there were reports that a Range Rover Velar had been stolen from the Showcase Cinema Car Park within just 10 minutes of the owner parking the vehicle.

And in October last year, another Range Rover was stolen from near the Aldermans Green Industrial Estate with the owner only purchasing the vehicle two weeks prior.

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