Canada Police: As many as 15 Indian-origin men were arrested in Canada for allegedly running an organised cargo theft ring. Property worth over 9 million dollars was seized besides the stolen goods.
According to a release by the Peels Regional Police, a joint task force was constituted to look into a series of tractor-trailer and cargo thefts in Peel regional municipality and across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
The investigation, carried out by the name of Project Big Rig, disrupted the criminal ring and led to the apprehension of 15 Indian-origin people from different cities in the GTA.
The arrested people belonged to the age bracket of 22 to 45 years. As many as 73 charges were pressed on them.
According to the investigators, the stolen cargo included various commercial goods, ATVs, and vehicles, which were allegedly sold by the suspects at markets and stores.
“A total value of 9.2 million Canadian dollars in property was recovered, comprising 6.9 million dollars of stolen cargo and 2.2 million dollars in value of stolen tractor-trailers,” the release said.
What did the police say?
Peel Regional Police Detective Mark Haywood said that the officers discovered that the same group of suspects targeted cargos and 28 tractor-trailers in six GTA locations.
"They were entering a lot of the facilities. [They would] cut the fence, go in, steal the product, steal a truck usually and drive over the fence," Haywood said at a press conference.
"Some were taken from truck stops, and some were taken from roadside, while the truck drivers were on breaks or sleeping,” he added.
Deputy Chief of Peel police's investigative and emergency services, Nick Milinovich, said that among those arrested, several were repeat offenders.
According to the press release, those arrested included Balkar Singh, 42; Ajay Ajay, 26; Manjeet Padda, 40; Jagjeevan Singh, 25; Amandeep Baidwan, 41, and Karamshand Singh, 58.
Jasvinder Atwal, 45; Lakhvir Singh, 45; Jagpal Singh, 34; Upkaran Sandhu, 31; Sukhvinder Singh, 44; Kulvir Bains, 39; Banishidar Lalsaran, 39; Shobit Verma, 23, Sukhninder Dhillon, 34, were also arrested.
Haywood said more arrests in cargo and auto thefts should be expected later this year.
(With PTI inputs)
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