LYON, France – More than 1,500 vehicles stolen in Canada have been detected around the world since the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) successfully integrated the Canadian Police Information Centre’s (CPIC) stolen vehicle information with INTERPOL’s Stolen Motor Vehicle (SMV) Database in February 2024.
The RCMP’s CPIC database contains details on approximately 150,000 vehicles stolen in Canada. Since the integration, more than 200 of the stolen vehicles have been identified each week as their information is checked by law enforcement around the world, usually at national ports of entry.
Canada ranks among the top ten countries in hits received via the SMV database this year, out of 137 countries connected worldwide.
INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock said:
“Stolen vehicles are international criminal currency. Not only are they used to traffic drugs, but also as payment to other criminal networks as well as fueling activities from human trafficking to terrorism.
“Sometimes overlooked, a stolen car is not just car theft. It is part of a major revenue stream for transnational organized crime. Through increased data sharing at the global level, we can better screen vehicles at border points, identify trafficking routes and arrest the perpetrators.”
INTERPOL’s SMV database allows police in the organization’s member countries to run a check against a suspicious vehicle and find out instantly whether it has been reported as stolen.
In 2023, around 226,000 vehicles were identified as stolen globally through the SMV database.
Joint vehicle crime project
In recent years, Canada has emerged as a key source country for stolen motor vehicles, in part given its large supply of sought-after high-value models such as SUVs and crossovers. Many of the vehicles are shipped to the Middle East and West Africa, where they are then traded or re-sold.
On February 21, 2024, the Government of Canada announced that INTERPOL’s joint transnational vehicle crime project will receive $3.5 million (EUR 2.4 million) to enhance information sharing and investigative tactics to identify and retrieve stolen vehicles and parts around the world.
The project will see Canada increase cooperation and information-sharing with INTERPOL. It also provides for dedicated training sessions on the SMV database and the coordination of multi-country police operations specifically targeting vehicle crime in known hotspots and trafficking routes.
A global INTERPOL operation in 2022, codenamed Operation Carback and coordinated across 77 countries, led to the recovery of hundreds of cars, trucks and motorbikes in just two weeks.
