Early on Saturday morning, Borisovo second-hand car market on the outskirts of the small Russian enclave of Kaliningrad offers a wealth of bargains.  Some of the German-made cars here have new Russian number plates. Some still have German plates. All have ridiculously low price tags. A top-of-the-range 1998 BMW with tinted windows, leather seats and a CD sound system is going for pounds 4,000. Some of Kaliningrad's second-hand car markets are the nexus of eastern Europe's lucrative underground trade in stolen cars. Borisovo epitomises the trade: dealers pay a small fee to put their cars on display, with legal and illegal wares indistinguishable.  Western intelligence agencies have estimated that 60% to 70% of cars stolen in nearby Germany end up in the Baltic republics or in Russia. Here in Kaliningrad, a town where a doctor earns less than pounds 40 a month, the streets brim with BMWs and Mercedes. In any other former Soviet town, Ladas would still be the order of the day.  The criminal opportunities created by Kaliningrad's location - its a unique position with regard to both Russia and the EU -are such that western law enforcement is now extremely worried for the future.  The EU's Copenhagen summit, opening tomorrow, is expected to rubber-stamp the entry of Poland and Lithuania to the union in 2004. The two countries entirely surround Kaliningrad's land borders.  The enclave is often used as a pitstop before stolen cars are moved on to Russia's mainland, only a trip across the Baltic republics away. Western intelligence agencies estimate there are 600,000 stolen cars on Moscow's streets. The city's police say that in a day they may recover as many as 120 cars which are on the Interpol list of missing vehicles.  "Cars can get new documents here, be sold on legitimately and then even stolen again," said Igor Rudnikov, the editor of a local newspaper, Noviye Kolyosa, and a member of the Kaliningrad parliament.  "There are many different methods. Some gangs will even steal your car, call you, and ask for a fraction of its original price to return it."  Kaliningrad's low salaries and poor state infrastructure contributed to the region's massive black economy, Mr Rudnikov said.  The car trade is highly competitive. Last month Alexander Klauser, a mobster involved in the car racket, was shot dead by rivals.  A former engineer in the Soviet army's tank division, Klauser had spent 33 of his 55 years in jail. He was infamous for his role in the underground economy, which uses sophisticated chains of thefts, document changes and bribery to ensure that expensive cars stolen in Germany are untraceable by the time they are sold in Russia.  Local police declined to comment on the trade. Techniques are now so sophisticated that regular checks by authorities against Interpol's stolen vehicle list are often fruitless.  The schemes are as numerous as they are devious. Some cars are stolen to order, and others sold on the open market by legitimate businesses.  Alexei, a taxi driver, bought his shiny red Mercedes for pounds 1,900."Cars are cheap here," he said. Kaliningrad benefits from a few tax exemptions and does rely heavily on the motor industry, but Alexei still smiles wryly and prefers not to answer when asked how such a poor population seems to drive only BMWs, Mercedes and Audis.  Organised crime is not limited to cars. A litre of vodka, two kilos of sugar and two cartons of cigarettes bought in Kaliningrad can make a pounds 6 profit in the richer streets of Warsaw. For many ordinary Kaliningraders, four such trips amount to the equivalent of their monthly wage.  Organised gangs also make much larger trips, often adding more dangerous com modities to their cargoes.  "Kaliningrad is probably the biggest hotspot for organised crime in all of Russia, bigger than Moscow," said a senior western intelligence officer.  "The problem is that in 2004 is will be sandwiched right in the middle of the European Union."  "It has many ports enabling large amounts of trafficking, be that drugs, guns, cars, or people. It does not have to be illegal goods trafficked illegally - it can be legal goods trafficked illegally, like fags or booze. These all generate profits for the gangs."  Additional reporting by Beate Steinhorst in Berlin Classification Language: ENGLISH Subject: EUROPEAN UNION (90%); VEHICLE THEFT (89%); LAW ENFORCEMENT (88%); POLICE FORCES (75%); UNOFFICIAL ECONOMY (75%); INTELLIGENCE SERVICES (74%); ORGANIZED CRIME (74%); WAGES & SALARIES (70%); BRIBERY (66%); INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (66%); JAIL SENTENCING (66%); EDITORIALS & OPINIONS (60%) Company: MERCEDES & AUDIS (57%); MERCEDES & AUDIS (57%); EUROPEAN UNION (77%) Organization: EUROPEAN UNION (77%); EUROPEAN UNION (77%) Industry: (90%); AUTOMOTIVE TRADE (78%) Geographic: MOSCOW, RUSSIAN FEDERATION (79%); RUSSIAN FEDERATION (94%); GERMANY (93%); BALTIC STATES (92%); EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES (90%); LITHUANIA (79%); EUROPE (79%); POLAND (77%); EASTERN EUROPE (58%)