Warning of “Canadian imports”: Most cars arriving in Iraq are stolen
Warning of “Canadian imports”: Most cars arriving in Iraq are stolen
2025-02-21 07:38
Shafaq News/ The Canadian newspaper “Hamilton Inspector” reported on Thursday that the police uncovered a large-scale criminal scheme and arrested 8 people involved in it, which included the theft and smuggling of hundreds of luxury cars from the city of Hamilton in Ontario province, many of which are suspected to have gone to Iraq and other countries.
The Canadian report, translated by Shafaq News Agency, explained that hundreds of cars disappeared under the cover of darkness during the past year, from in front of the entrances of homes, as thieves succeeded in a complex operation, who belong to a criminal network, and used advanced means to circumvent security systems and reprogram their operating keys. While some of these cars remained in Canada, their identification numbers were forged and sold in the local market.
As for the other cars, according to the report, they were shipped in containers bound for Iraq, Ghana and the Emirates, noting that Hamilton police announced the dismantling of the criminal network after a year-long investigation, which led to the arrest of 8 people and dozens of charges against them, after this city recorded a record number of 1,612 thefts during the year 2024 alone.
According to the report, the investigation was called Project Polar Bear and was conducted in cooperation between multiple security and insurance agencies. It noted that of the 235 stolen cars identified during the investigation, half of which belonged to Hamilton residents, police recovered 202 cars worth an estimated $15 million.
The report quoted a police spokesman as saying that the criminal network was sophisticated, as it used sites to collect and sort cars in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton, in addition to loading them into containers, changing their identification numbers, or dismantling them for parts.
It is noteworthy that Iraq is full of “Canadian import” cars, which are imported through car auctions, and are often involved in an accident or not, and arrive in Iraq through different routes, either to the Iraqi ports in Basra or to the free zone in Jordan and shipped by land.
Some of these cars are not of the specified import model from Iraq, so they enter through devious means and with forged papers, or they are registered as spare parts and sold inside Iraq without official license plates, or they are within the specified model and enter legally and are registered in the traffic departments.
Most Canadian imported cars are almost new, unlike American imported cars, which have been in serious accidents. The price of Canadian cars is high in the market after they are traded, because they are new and have high specifications.
“While some of these cars were traded locally or used in other crimes, the majority of the cars were transported to the port of Montreal, sometimes loaded onto trains, and sent to complicit buyers, or buyers who were unaware that they were stolen, in African and Middle Eastern countries, while police continue to investigate the responsibility of the suspected buyers,” the spokesman said.
The report noted that “some of the cars were intercepted before being loaded into containers, or while they were in the port of Montreal before being shipped to the Middle East or Africa, while 14 cars were recovered at a recycling site in the Niagara Falls area, which is one of nine sites that were raided.”
The report indicated that, “In addition to the cars, the police confiscated seven kilograms of narcotic psilocybin mushrooms, half a kilogram of cocaine, two pistols, and advanced technological devices capable of hacking ignition keys and changing car identification numbers.”
shafaq.com
