York Region police uncover $2 million auto theft ring

Police in Ontario’s York Region have laid 130 criminal charges against five men after recovering stolen vehicles worth more than $2 million.
The charges followed a 16-month investigation dubbed “Project Romeo” which led to the recovery of over 50 luxury vehicles which had been reported stolen.
“The 16-month investigation uncovered the use of counterfeit United States certificates of iitle and forged Canada Custom import forms, used to illegally register stolen vehicles with the Ministry of Transportation licencing offices throughout the Greater Toronto Area,” explains a statement released by the York Region Police Auto Theft Recovery Unit. Police charge the accused also altered vehicle identification numbers (VINs).
Police executed 10 search warrants last Monday on two homes and eight garages, seizing computer equipment and documents these files, police say, will lead them to other vehicles on which VINs have been altered.
“The [auto theft] ring was also responsible for the cleaning of salvage titles through the uttering of forged documents with the Ministry of Transportation pertaining to accident vehicles imported from the United States,” the police charge. “This allowed them to sell repaired vehicles to the public without the accident history of these vehicles being disclosed or discovered by unsuspecting purchasers.”