Toronto Police have recently uncovered an auto theft ring involving ServiceOntario employees who were stealing information from the Ministry of Transportation database.
The Toronto Police Service has revealed the results of "Project Safari," an investigation initiated in February. The operation successfully identified and arrested seven individuals, including three ServiceOntario employees, involved in an auto theft ring responsible for numerous vehicle thefts across the city.
Constable Laurie McCann of Toronto Police said "The investigation began around auto thefts and turned into a data trafficking investigation when they realized suspects were conspiring with Service Ontario employees, who were trafficking information taken from the MTO."
Detective Jason Kraehling added, "Essentially we became suspicious based on certain information/patterns we were seeing in our checks, and ultimately confirmed the connection through evidence obtained from the execution of a search warrant."
It is alleged that the ServiceOntario employees would give out driver information including addresses and vehicle information to car thieves who would then obtain stolen vehicles and be provided with fraudulent vehicle registrations and vehicle identification numbers (VIN).
The vehicles were subsequently sold within the country, targeting unsuspecting purchasers as second-hand vehicles, or were used to commit further crimes.
In a written statement to Oakville News, the Ministry wrote "The ministry takes this matter extremely seriously and worked with law enforcement to support their investigation. These individuals are no longer employed with ServiceOntario and do not have access to the driver and vehicle database."
Due to the ongoing status of the investigation, the Ministry is not providing any more information.
Seven suspects were arrested and 73 charges were laid. Police say that "Investigators also seized approximately 1.5 million dollars in proceeds of crime, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and several luxury vehicles."
As of this year, the Halton Police Board is encouraging car manufacturers to increase investments in anti-theft technology for vehicles and to collaborate with the police in doing so.
They are also calling on insurance companies to back these initiatives by offering benefits or discounts for vehicles equipped with anti-theft technology.
The board ultimately wants the Government of Canada to enact stricter regulations. For as long as auto theft is considered property theft in Ontario, criminals will know no boundaries in the lengths they may go to exploit this crime.