Toronto man uses AirTags to track stolen SUV to Dubai

nabbed from a Toronto driveway how does a stolen SUV wind up all the way here this one found in a used car lot on another continent we're not talking about just you know vehicle theft it's organized crime well financed highest level how many pictures and documents do you have from this whole thing honestly we have dozens of screen shots amazingly the owner tracked his truck the whole way compiling images maps and evidence even hiring a private investigator and not getting much help from police how surprised have people been when you show them this level of evidence and detail the whole the whole way through yeah they they think I'm sort of certifiably crazy which is fair but I I want I want my truck back last August 7th a 2022 GMC Yukon XL like this one is parked in the driveway in this East Toronto neighborhood the owner Andrew found the steering wheel bent with that lock still in place a sign criminals had dropped in trying to steal it once and they were about to return again we have dinner come back out at 9:15 and the truck was gone what went through your mind not again cuz that was the second truck that had been stolen from our from our driver you heard right it's the second truck he's had stolen we've agreed to conceal Andrew's full name and address his family fears reprisals for fighting back against organized crime luckily in that Yukon he had stashed two Apple Air tags or tiny tracking devices so he watched as it pinged in different locations across the greater Toronto area and then stopped in a rail yard north of here the massive Canadian Pacific terminal in Von handles about 1,800 containers each day with cargo loaded onto trucks and trains not every shipment gets a thorough verification potentially giving organized crime a passageway to move stolen vehicles this is where Andrew pinpointed his truck the air tag sending its location at the rail yard so he called York Regional Police and wound up texting with an officer who drove right in police even sent him this picture saying the SUV is definitely in one of those containers it felt like a victory finally I said officer you must be right there he's like well here's a picture this is what I'm looking at right now I said fantastic you did it go go get the truck and he said I can't you have to call the CP Rail police it's their jurisdiction and how helpful were they they were not and so off it went his GMC Yukon agonizingly close but moving further and further away pinging next on August 11th in a rail yard in Smith's Falls in eastern Ontario then 3 days later in Montreal at one of Canada's largest shipping ports and what's become a major destination for exporting stolen cars again Andrew says he contacted local police but they were hardly helpful you know where your vehicle is how frustrating is it when you realize there's nothing you can do I think that's the Pinnacle of the frustration is knowing that it's still here but it's about to disappear the air tag went offline for more than 3 weeks as a cargo ship crossed the Atlantic carrying the SUV in a container it shows up again September 6th in the port of anwp Belgium finally traveling later that month to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates 11,000 kilm from Toronto thanks for coming David Adams is president of global automakers of Canada a group representing big foreign based car companies some of these roots are welln so why not take a more focused look at uh at those shipments authorities are indeed seeking to cracked down on that route to the UAE with Ontario Police last March intercepting 24 Vehicles being sent to Dubai just weeks earlier officers said they busted a criminal Syndicate and recovered dozen of vehicles in containers Bound for the UAE and Africa Adams wants to see more action from the federal government and the Border Services Agency to curb that Trend that we're very concerned about drugs and guns coming into the country but the missing pieces that the export of stolen vehicles is actually financing a lot of those drugs and guns that are coming into the country so we need to be concerned about what's exiting the country as well remember seeing that SUV parked in Toronto here's Andrew's Yukon in the UAE in a used car lot lined up next to other North American style GMC and Chevrolet trucks for sale the picture sent to Andrew by a private investigator he hired this closeup showing the vehicle identification number as proof that one is his so how common is this we asked Ontario Provincial Police detective inspector Scott Wade deputy director of an auto theft task force the rout of um starting in a rail yard or a containerized lot and then being globally exported to countries in the Middle East Northern Africa Europe is is quite common it's uh alarmingly common right now they're making so much money shipping cars overseas that the low risk and the high reward is just uh too lucrative for organized crime he was never able to get it back um what are the circumstances in which police can't intervene um that would be unusual I can say that if we know it's at a container lot or a container yard or the uh ports of Montreal we'll make every efforts to uh obtain it and get it back how confident are you that in 2024 you'll be able to curve this issue I can tell you that the efforts and the Partnerships that we have are going to have an incredible impact I'm not going to claim 2024 is going to see a a dramatic decrease um but I certainly hope that as for Andrew's Yukon we found one listed for sale online with striking similarities down to the same mileage made to Canadian specifications it says available in the UAE for roughly $80,000 Andrew is still fighting to get his back you've gone through a lot yep so far it's not done yet what message are you trying to send or what's the goal at the end of the day here I think the big takeaway is it's it's not acceptable one truck gone that's stinks uh the second truck is a violation you read in the news every day that there's more and more cars being stolen you know got to do something

Channel: CBC News: The National

Views: 1,014,693

Keywords: vehicle theft, car theft, toronto car theft, international auto theft, stolen car exports, car thefts ring, car theft organized crime, tracking a stolen car, stolen car cargo ship, Global Automakers of Canada, UAE stolen cars, stolen cars taken to UAE, vehicle theft canada, north america car theft, auto theft investigation, AirTags stolen car, Thomas Daigle, CBC, CBC News, The National

Id: A3eG8ZbeXeQ

Length: 7min 12sec (432 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 16 2024