52 Stolen Cars Worth $3.2 Million Recovered From Ontario, 11 Men Arrested

The York Regional Police revealed on Monday that a ring of individuals had targeted high-end vehicles with plans to traffic them as far as Azerbaijan and Georgia in Eastern Europe.

Investigators have filed 96 criminal charges following the retrieval of 52 vehicles valued at over $3.2 million stolen in Ontario.

Utilizing residential areas to conceal recently stolen vehicles from the Greater Toronto Area and southwestern Ontario, the group faced repercussions when six search warrants were executed between December 2023 and January 2024 in Vaughan, Toronto, London, Cambridge, and Bradford. This led to the recovery of the 52 vehicles and the charging of eleven individuals with nearly 100 criminal offenses, including theft of a motor vehicle and trafficking property obtained by crime.

Charged individuals include Zain Afzal and Arpan Dutta from Scarborough, Andrey Pokrovskiy from Newmarket, Mohammad Hadi from Cambridge, Darren Proulex from London, Sanan Abbasov from Branford, Sadkoul Derman from Kitchener, and Ibrahim Tairou, Kamal El Hadji Dani, Mina Pebenito, and Shaibu Kooli from Toronto.

This investigation, named Project Mamba, was a collaborative effort involving the York Regional Police Auto Cargo Theft Unit, Canada Border Services Agency, and Équité Association.

The concerning trend of stolen cars being shipped abroad will be a focal point at a national summit on Feb. 8, bringing together provinces and industry officials with the aim of curbing organized crime-related auto thefts.

With carjackings in the Greater Toronto Area having surged by 300% since 2015, addressing this issue remains a priority for law enforcement.

Parvasi Media Group