Carjacking task force nabs 89 suspects, lays 554 charges

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Efforts to combat violent carjackings and other related crimes in the Greater Toronto Area are starting to bear fruit.

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The Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force (PCJTF), a collaboration between police forces across the GTA as well as the Ontario Provincial Police and Criminal Intelligence Service of Ontario, on Thursday announced 89 arrests and 554 charges, including carjackings and home invasions to steal vehicles.

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Since Sept. 21, 2023, 109 vehicles have also been recovered by the task force.

“Our collaboration with the OPP and other services across the GTA as part of the PCJTF has proven very successful thus far,” Toronto Police Supt. Steve Watts said in a statement.

“Although the number of carjackings in Toronto decreased in 2023 compared to the year before, we continue to see a concerning rise in violence related to auto thefts that the PCJTF will continue to address.”

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The task force was created last year to disrupt criminal networks responsible for high-risk auto thefts, which cops say increasingly involve violence, firearms and other weapons.

Police say thieves use the stolen vehicles to either carry out other crimes or to ship them overseas to be resold. Criminals are also known to alter vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and sell the vehicles to unsuspecting buyers in Canada.

The PCJTF, which is co-led by Toronto Police and the OPP and receives funding from the Ontario government, also involves police in Peel, York, Durham and Halton regions.

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