Seven people are facing over 70 charges as a result of Toronto police auto theft investigation involving ServiceOntario employees.
Dubbed Project Safari, the investigation was initiated in February by the 53 Division Major Crime Unit with the objective of identifying and arresting members of a suspected auto theft ring responsible for numerous motor vehicle thefts throughout Toronto. As the project progressed, investigators learned that suspects were conspiring with employees at ServiceOntario, who were trafficking in driving and vehicle data taken from the Ministry of Transportation database.
Police alleged that employees at ServiceOntario would provide the accused with vehicle and driver information, including addresses the accused would then steal the vehicles. They would also provide the accused with fraudulent vehicle registrations and vehicle identification numbers (VIN) for the stolen vehicle (re-vining) to appear legitimate. the vehicles were then sold domestically, to unsuspecting buyers, as used vehicles or were used to commit other crimes.
Police said that between July and October this year a total of 25 Criminal Code search warrants were executed on residences, commercial garages, ServiceOntario branches and vehicles. Investigators located and recovered several stolen and re-vined vehicles in addition to equipment, tools and electronics utilized by the accused to facilitate the theft of motor vehicles. The search warrants also revealed that the amount of people who had their data trafficked by the accused numbered in the hundreds.
Investigators also seized approximately 1.5 million dollars in proceeds of crime, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and several luxury vehicles.
Keerthan Mangaleswaran (29) of Toronto, Gobi Yogarajah (25) of Toronto, Kajan Jokanajakam (32) of Oshawa, Milosha Ariyaratnam (29) of Toronto, Howard Lee (25) Markham, Doneika Jackson (38) of Toronto and Andrea Fernandes (30) of Vaughn have been arrested and face a total of 73 charges.
Police are advising individuals purchasing a used vehicle to perform proper due diligence by obtaining vehicle history reports.
“Re-vined vehicles will often have discrepancies in their vehicle histories such as being the wrong colour or having inconsistent odometer readings,” police said.
