More than 100 stolen vehicles, farming equipment, trailers and other machinery were recovered following an extensive investigation southeast of Edmonton.
The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams’ auto crimes unit searched 17 locations on Nov. 21. The majority of the locations were in Camrose, according to ALERT. But properties were also searched in Camrose County, Ponoka County and the Rural Municipality of Hillsdale, Sask.
“This was part of an extensive organized crime investigation,” ALERT spokesperson Mike Tucker said.
ALERT said upwards of 170 police officers from Camrose, Edmonton and Calgary, as well as RCMP detachments in St. Paul, Wetaskiwin, Ponoka, Rimbey, Strathcona County, St. Albert, Fort Saskatchewan, Killam and Saskatchewan, were involved in the searches.
ALERT said it is still in the process of cataloguing all of the stolen equipment, due to the high volume of items recovered by police.
“ALERT appreciates the public interest and support of this investigation, but we ask for patience as the evidence is being processed. Once all the items are documented, investigators will work toward identifying and contacting the rightful owners,” said acting Staff Sgt. Michael Fehr with ALERT Edmonton.
Tucker said the ultimate goal is to return the stolen items to their rightful owners.
“It just takes us some time. We have to follow proper investigative due diligence to make sure it’s properly catalogued,” Tucker said.
Several suspects have been identified but ALERT said charges have not yet been laid.
“This has been a big undertaking and we think it’s going to have a huge impact once we tally up all the results and get ready to lay charges,” Tucker said.