The call from Ghana woke Len Green at the Toronto home where his prized vehicle had been stolen a year earlier.
“I’m calling from CBC News,” said the journalist on the other end of the phone. “We’re doing an investigation into stolen vehicles, and I’m pretty sure I’m sitting in your vehicle … in West Africa.”
“Woah,” he replied. “I can’t believe it … that’s crazy.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Police sources tell CBC News that large, established organized criminal gangs based in Montreal are behind most of the thefts, though it’s become so lucrative, other groups with less technical skill are becoming involved.
Small teams sometimes mark cars in mall parking lots during the day by using GPS trackers similar to the ones people can buy and place in their luggage or on key chains to track lost items.
The vehicles are often destined for Africa and the Middle East — everywhere from Nigeria to the UAE, Israel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo — where they’ll soon appear in local used car lots, be listed on TikTok or sometimes found in online classified ads with Canadian licence plates still attached.
Thieves used to hold a large antenna in front of a house door, scanning for keys left inside, but the technology has advanced in the past year, becoming smaller and easier to use at a distance.
“From our perspective, it’s a lack of enforcement,” said Michael Rothe of the Canadian Financing and Leasing Association (CFLA), who argues Canada has fallen behind in the fight against the organized theft of vehicles for export.
When CBC arrived at the dealership, the lot was full of late model Toyota Highlanders, Lexus RX350s, Honda CRVs, Land Rovers and Mercedes, among other cars on Canada’s most stolen list.
The original article contains 1,661 words, the summary contains 226 words. Saved 86%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Adding ‘feel free to keep it as I imagine it’s driven 50,000 hard miles since I last saw it’
