Car thefts are frightful in the Twin Cities also.
The hands of the police are tied. They are afraid there my be a shoot out, and they end up killing someone. Then old "Grumpy Crump" arrives on the first available flight, and is on TV the same night with the family saying what a great loving guy the miscreant was.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Montreal became a hub for export of stolen vehicles.
From CBC News:
Early Monday morning, a team of investigators descended on the Port of Montreal, seizing dozens of stolen vehicles — mostly new high-end SUVs and pickup trucks — from containers bound for overseas. In all, they recovered 53 vehicles with an estimated value of $2.6 million.
It was the latest in a series of raids made by law enforcement in recent months as they try to crack down on a rise in the export of stolen cars. The increase in stolen vehicles since the pandemic is disturbing and shows no signs of slowing down.
Roughly 9,500 vehicles were stolen in Montreal last year, up considerably from years prior. Thefts have occurred at roughly the same pace so far in 2023, with about 800 vehicles stolen per month for the first three months.
More than 300 vehicles were stolen in the first nine days of April. Experts have attributed the rise in car thefts to a shortage of new vehicles as well as vehicle parts, such as semiconductors. The problem extends far beyond Montreal, with a rise in thefts
reported in Ontario and beyond.
But Montreal has emerged as a hub for the export of stolen vehicles: many cars stolen from elsewhere in Canada disappear after being shipped out of the city.
Last month, authorities recovered 24 luxury vehicles stolen from the Toronto area in Morocco. They had been shipped out of the Montreal port and were headed to Dubai. They were valued at an estimated $2.1 million.
Since the start of the year, 252 stolen vehicles have been seized at the port — more than 75 per cent of them from Ontario, according to Montreal police.
Experts have previously told CBC News that stolen Canadian cars are often shipped through Italy to the Middle East and Africa. Vehicles stolen from Ontario and Quebec were being openly advertised and sold in West African countries, including Nigeria and Ghana.
