With vehicle thefts spiking, authorities in Montreal try to crack down on shipments overseas

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. 

Montreal police Cmndr. Yannick Desmarais, who is responsible for the force's motor vehicle thefts division, said 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, Desmarais said.

Experts have attributed the rise in car thefts to a shortage of new vehicles as well as vehicle parts, such as semiconductors.

Desmarais pointed out the problem extends far beyond Montreal, with a rise in thefts reported in Ontario and beyond.

"It's a problem across Canada," he said.

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.

A recent investigation by CBC's Marketplace found vehicles stolen from Ontario and Quebec were being openly advertised and sold in West African countries, including Nigeria and Ghana. 

Thousands of containers daily

For his part, Desmarais said he's confident workers at the port itself aren't the problem. He said the sheer volume of goods and the size of the port makes oversight a difficult task.

It spans 30 kilometres and handles more than 1.5 million containers a year.

No arrests have been made in the connection with the latest raid. Desmarais said the investigation is ongoing.

Daniel Dagenais, vice-president of the Port of Montreal, said the role of the port itself in preventing the export of stolen vehicles is limited.

He said the port is equipped with cameras, fully secured with fences and monitored 24 hours a day.

But he said 2,000 trucks bring in containers every day — the vast majority of them filled with legitimate goods being prepared for export.

"It's difficult for us to determine what should be coming to the port and what should not," he said.

Links to firearms

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is responsible for detecting stolen vehicles and other contraband. The CBSA led the most recent raid at the port.

Spokesperson Jacqueline Roby said the agency has been working closely with local police and conducting both "targeted and random" searches of containers. 

Roby said containers are "subject to non-intrusive inspections using detection technologies such as X-ray and gamma-ray machines."

Équité Association, a group representing insurance companies, also took part in the raid.

Jacques Lamontagne, a former Montreal police officer who now works for Équité, said vehicle thefts are mostly the work of criminal networks who rely on street gangs to steal the vehicles. Unlike in the past, when vehicles were quickly chopped for parts, the trend is to deliver them intact to new markets.

"There are more and more whole stolen vehicles that have been exported for five or six years," Lamontagne told Radio-Canada.

Desmarais said police have made a concerted effort to try to crack down on car thefts, given that they are known to help fund organized crime groups that also bring in illegal firearms.

He urged vehicle owners — particularly those with a new vehicle — to make sure they have an anti-theft system, such as a tracking system or on-board diagnostic protection (OBD).

"We have to make it harder for them to be stolen," he said.