A gang of thieves working at a BMW plant in Munich have stolen more than EUR3m (US$4m) worth of parts from a factory.
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Over several years they stole wheel arches, gear stick knobs, brake systems, steering columns, blank keys and car seats mirroring a Johnny Cash song about a disillusioned Detroit autoworker who custom-made his own car from the various parts he stole.
The Munich thieves, however, sold the parts they stole on the black market. Prosecutors said the gang sold the stolen parts on internet auctions. Two members of the gang had worked for the company for for than 10 years, a third was an outside contractor.
According to prosecutors, seats were the big money items. The gang would make up fake production orders for another part of the factory and when the seats were made, they would order quality control checks.
This was easily done as one gang member worked in the quality control department of the luxury car maker. They told bosses the seats were faulty and junked, when in reality they were smuggled out of the plant and sold. The gang had a network of foreign bank accounts to launder their money.
Police said a number of small auto repair workshops and private customers were in on the deal.
A number of car seats, spare parts and BMW car badges were discovered during a series of raids in and around Munich at the end of last week.
BMW said most of its 31,000 workers in the area were honest but there was always likely to be a corrupt element.
