Canadian theft rings scooping up American cars

If you are planning a car trip to Quebec this summer, and you own a fancy sport-utility vehicle, soyez prudent — be careful.

The theft of American-owned vehicles in Montreal and Quebec City is a big problem, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. And the thieves are not teenage joy riders; sophisticated organized gangs are involved, many with international connections. Some of the vehicles are chopped for parts, but most are either exported in containers or recycled back into the United States with new Vehicle Identification Numbers.

"U.S. registered vehicles stolen in Quebec and Montreal are not being recovered at the same rate as vehicles stolen here," said Heidi Jordan, senior special agent for the NICB in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. She said the recovery rate was about 67 percent in the United States compared with 2 percent in Canada.
Read Article