Auto theft being used to fund terrorist activity: IBC

Evidence suggests auto theft in Canada is being used to fund international terrorist activities, Rick Dubin, vice president of investigative services at the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), told delegates of the National Insurance Conference of Canada (NICC).
Although auto theft is down 15% in Canada, recovery rates of stolen vehicles is also on the decline, Dubin said at a panel discussion on auto fraud. “That points to the involvement of organized crime,” he said. “Cars stolen by joy riders are usually abandoned and found later. Cars stolen by crime rings are exported, have new Vehicle Identification Numbers assigned to them and are re-sold or chopped for parts – both outcomes make it difficult to recover the vehicle,” he said.
“Worse, there is evidence that the money generated by these crime rings fund illegal activities, including drugs, guns and even terrorism.”
Dubin played a news clip that quoted the head of a North American task force established to break up auto theft rings. “Stolen vehicles are used for financing terrorist activities worldwide,” the clip said. “This is one of the new areas that we have identified that terrorists are turning to fund their activities.”
Dubin pointed to a recent case in Southern Ontario in which a young woman was allegedly forced to commit fraud by men who claimed to have ties to Hezbollah.
“They claimed they were holding her uncle hostage and threatening to kill him if she didn’t comply with all of their demands,” Dubin said. “After maxing out all of her credit cards, she went ahead and financed a $45k Lexus intended to be shipped to Lebanon.
“It ended up in a container of vehicles picked up by IBC and Canada Border Services Agency at the port of Montreal. It had a lien on it. That was the giveaway that we had to take a closer look. The judge dropped the initial fraud charge against this young woman because he believed she was coerced into this crime.”