The Port of Montreal, a major transit point for stolen cars
The Port of Montreal is a major transit point for stolen cars.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) intercepted 1,050 stolen cars at the Port of Montreal in 2022, while 9,591 cars, mainly SUVs and pickup trucks, were reported stolen by police in the metropolis l’ last year, according to what Radio-Canada learned. For comparison, 6,527 vehicles were stolen in 2021.
The Port of Montreal is the largest in Eastern Canada in terms of freight transit. Around 1.5 million containers pass through the port each year. This reality makes it difficult to intercept cases of stolen cars, according to CBSA port superintendent Salvatore Barbieri. The volume of containers entering and leaving Montreal makes it difficult to intercept stolen cars.
After leaving the port of Montreal, stolen cars end up abroad, where it is almost impossible to find them. to recover. “We find hundreds of stolen Canadian cars in Italy, shipped to the Middle East, and then hundreds of Canadian cars tracked and traced in West Africa,” says Interpol Criminal Intelligence Agent Renato Schipani.
In addition to knowledge of vehicle destinations in some cases, Schipani says the number of stolen cars originating in Montreal is growing. In 2017, 269 stolen cars were seized by the CBSA at the Port of Montreal, a figure that has since increased significantly.
