OTTAWA -- Police have made a significant dent in a multi-million dollar vehicle theft ring that has hit Ottawa and Eastern Ontario hard.
Ontario Provincial Police released details today of Project SHILDON targeting criminals who were stealing high-end vehicles and shipping them overseas. Twenty people, all residents of Montreal, have been charged with 350 offences, after the theft of close to 500 luxury vehicles.
OPP and other police services have managed to recover 97 of those cars. It's the theft of several luxury vehicles off the streets of Ottawa that kick started Project SHILDON. Police started compiling data from various other agencies quickly noticing some trends in where the thefts were happening and who was behind it.
For five months, multiple police agencies worked together to bust an organized crime ring that had been targeting high-end vehicles worth up to $100,000 each, from Toyota Highlanders and Four Runners, to Lexus and Honda SUV's and Ford pickups.
“Our residents have had criminals lurking around residences at night,” said Superintendent Bryan MacKillop, Director of the OPP’s Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau at a news conference in Ottawa, “their vehicles stolen right from their driveways while they sleep. It's not lost on us that this is extremely concerning and victimizing for these folks.”
And it wasn't just driveways thieves were targeting. Dealerships like one in Pembroke lost seven vehicles this September in a matter of minutes. A dealership in Kanata had six stolen.
“What does that tell you?” said Ben George, the Kanata Toyota General Manager, when he was interviewed in September. “Organized, absolutely organized.”
Indeed it was.
“One of groups mainly targeted residential areas,” explained MacKillop, “stealing one vehicle at a time. The other group hit dealerships, stealing multiple vehicles at a time.”
The OPP say altogether, nearly 500 vehicles were stolen, each worth between $60,000 and $100,000. They managed to recover 97 of them.
Police say thieves got in not through a relay box but old-fashioned break and enter through the door. They then disabled the alarm system and used an application to reprogram a different fob key.
Within minutes, MacKillop said, they're on the road to the Port of Montreal, bound for Africa or the Middle East.
“These vehicles can't be purchased in these countries and there's a need and demand for them,” he said, “Buyers will pay double the price and they often don't necessarily know the vehicle was stolen.”
That's where Ottawa resident Gail Downey figures her vehicles went. She and her husband had three of them stolen last year.
“It was a while ago,” she says, “We lost three cars but we know the neighbours lost some this summer. Our neighbour across the street lost her Lexus so I hope the ring is broken.”
Police know they've made a dent in this organized ring. But it's a massive problem; ten thousand cars were stolen last year in Ontario alone. Part of the problem, too, they say, is that many of the guys they've arrested have been charged before with the same crime and released. Police hope they'll be convicted as repeat offenders and perhaps deter others from following in their footsteps.
