The Ford government is calling on its federal counterparts to ramp up checks on shipping containers leaving the country as a national summit on auto theft looms.
Ontario’s Solicitor General Michael Kerzner said the federal government should be focusing its resources on the Port of Montreal and other international rail and sea borders to crack down on thieves shipping cars out of the country.
In a letter to the Trudeau government, he said auto theft in Ontario had gone from a problem to reaching crisis levels.
“As you know, our national ports have become hotspots for organized crime,” Kerzner wrote. “Stolen vehicles are slipping through them at an alarming rate.”
A national summit on auto theft is set to be held by the federal government on Thursday. It will bring together municipal, provincial and federal politicians, along with border and law enforcement agencies.
In an interview with Global News, Kerzner pointed out x-rays and other inspections are completed on cargo entering the country, but he said those checks don’t take place when people ship out of Canada.
That means stolen Canadian vehicles are often only discovered when they land in new countries, if at all.
On Wednesday, for example, Halton Regional Police said they had recovered a Lexus SUV, Range Rover and two Ford-150s worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, allegedly stolen in the Greater Toronto Area and shipped to Dubai.
Some 24 vehicles were intercepted in Morocco on their way to Dubai, police said.
Kerzner also called for stricter sentences for people found guilty of car theft offences.
“We can’t have a revolving door where they’re back on the streets,” he said.
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