'Excellent police work' Halton police recover 32 stolen vehicles and make four arrests
Halton police a celebrating the success of a large anti-car theft operation, which resulted in the recovery of 32 stolen vehicles.
Dubbed Project Eleanor, police said, the initiative began in January following a large number of vehicle thefts from residential driveways in Halton.
The thieves would reportedly spot the vehicles during the day, or shortly before the theft, then come back at night, force their way into the vehicle and reprogram the vehicle's computer to recognize a new key fob.
Police said this style of reprogramming theft takes less than three minutes.
Certain vehicles were targeted due to high resale value overseas, investigators said.
Halton police partnered with the Canada Border Services Agency and through various investigative means succeeded in identifying a shipping yard in Mississauga, which they allege had been used to traffic these stolen vehicles.
Search warrants were executed at this shipping yard and at a residence in Toronto on April 23 and April 24.
Police said investigators then worked to track and recover 32 stolen vehicles worth an estimated $2.2 million.
The recovered vehicles included:
9 Ford F150s
7 Toyota Highlanders
3 Jeep Grand Cherokees
1 Honda CR-V
7 Land Rovers
3 Lexus RX350s
2 Dodge Durangos
Investigators also reportedly located and seized $11,000 in cash, stolen property and technology used in reprogramming auto theft.
As a result of Project Eleanor on Jan. 8, two men from Toronto and one man from Quebec were arrested and charged with theft over $5,000, possession of an automobile master key and possession of break-in instruments.
Following the execution of the search warrants a fourth man being arrested and charged with fraud under $5,000 on April 23.
A Toronto man was also rearrested on April 23 and charged with possession of property obtained by crime, trafficking in property obtained by crime and fraud under $5,000.
None of these charges have been proven in court.
Police said efforts are being made to arrest other individuals connected to this investigation.
The success of Project Eleanor is the result of some excellent police work and working in partnership with our community and other public safety agencies," said Halton Police Deputy Chief Roger Wilkie.
Community safety and well-being is a shared responsibility, and you play a very important role in helping to prevent this crime. Please do your part in making it more difficult for these bandits to steal your vehicle."
Halton police said residents can prevent their vehicles from being stolen by parking them in a garage and/or installing a lock on the computer data port inside your vehicle so thieves cannot access it.
Residents can also install a secondary GPS system to assist police in tracking their vehicle if it is stolen.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact the Oakville Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4747 ext. 2216 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.