Toronto police have recovered more than 500 stolen vehicle and have charged dozens of people following a months-long investigation into auto theft in the city’s west.
The investigation, dubbed ‘Project Stallion’ began in November and was largely focused on the Etobicoke neighbourhoods located in 22 and 23 Division.
Police say that as a result of the investigation 556 stolen vehicles worth more than $27 million have been recovered to date.
A total of 119 people have also been taken into custody as a result and are facing a combined 314 charges.
Those suspects mostly reside in the GTA, though more than a dozen of them are from Quebec.
A number of the suspects are also young offenders.
“Toronto police do not take these crimes lightly and Project Stallion is proof of that. For the residents of 22 and 23 divisions I want top assure you that this project is ongoing and that this issue will continue to be addressed in the community,” Supt. Rob Taverner said during a news conference on Wednesday. “There is a lot of work obviously that went into making all of this happen, to recover this number of vehicles and to charge this number of people. But we are not stopping here. Message for the criminals: we are coming after you.”
Taverner said that while a small number of the people charged were working on their own, most were a part of organized cells that were involved in auto theft in the GTA.
He said that all of the vehicles recovered were found in the GTA, though approximately 30 of them were located in shipping containers bound for the Port of Montreal.
“That started out with a single car. That one car led us to 30 cars and a container operation,” he said.
For a full list of those facing charges follow this link.
More to come…
