Nearly 600 stolen vehicles have been recovered in Montreal by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) along with the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) as part of “Project Vector,” which found that around 75 per cent of the stolen cars recovered from containers in Montreal were reported stolen in Ontario.
The CBSA works regularly with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), Montreal police (SVPM) and Équité Association to search shipping containers suspected of having stolen vehicles.
“Project Vector illustrates the strength of the partnership between all the actors involved in the fight against vehicle theft,” said SQ Director General Benoit Dubé.
The police forces held a press conference on Wednesday morning in Montreal, providing the results of their investigation.
Since December 2023, Project Vector has led to 390 shipping containers being inspected and 598 vehicles recovered, including 483 from Ontario and 115 from Quebec.
“Project Vector has disrupted the criminal networks that take advantage of the Canadian export market to sell stolen vehicles,” explained OPP Deputy Commissioner Marty Kearns. “These vehicles were destined to be exported overseas to markets in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South America.”
According to the press release, the cars have been connected to several crimes including carjackings and home invasions.
“Every day, our teams of patrol officers and investigators make arrests, seize vehicles and conduct investigations to dismantle networks,” said SPVM Inspector Dominique Côté. “It’s this day-to-day work, with the support of all our partners, that produces concrete results like those presented today.”
The investigations into the stolen vehicles remains ongoing.
