More than 60 stolen cars intercepted in Malta returned to Canada
Shipment valued at €2.5m reaches Toronto, following interceptions by Malta Customs
More than 60 cars stolen in Canada and discovered by Malta Customs hidden inside shipping containers have been repatriated.
On Friday, Canadian news outlet CTV News reported that the 64 stolen vehicles, which have a combined estimated value of CAD$3.5 million (€2.46m), have been returned to the Greater Toronto Area.
It took almost a year-and-a-half to settle paperwork to ensure the cars’ return – “a long wait to come back home,” the Canadian news outlet noted.
Thieves working with organised crime groups stole the cars, many of which are luxury SUVs and pick-ups, with the intention of shipping them to buyers in Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
Cars were mainly stolen off residential driveways. In many cases, thieves used loop antennas to amplify and relay a signal from a key fob kept inside the house to another device near the car to open its doors and start the engine.
In other, more violent cases, thieves took control of vehicles through car-jackings across the Greater Toronto Area. Car theft was up 44 per cent in 2022 in the region.
Toronto police believe several hundred such vehicles were successfully smuggled abroad and sold to unsuspecting buyers.
A significant number of the cars stolen and smuggled abroad were however intercepted by Malta Customs in a string of seizures stretching back to October 2021. The most recent such interception was reported last December, when 19 such cars were found hidden inside a shipping container en route to Dubai.
Toronto police have made dozens of arrests as part of what it has dubbed 'Project Majestic'. Among those charged are nine who are being prosecuted in connection with the car seizures in Malta.