RCMP recovers 392 vehicles set to be exported from Canada by organized crime

Shipping containers are used by organized crime to export stolen and fraudulently obtained vehicles. The RCMP has announced a pilot project in collaboration with other agencies has recovered 392 vehicles over the last year. Photo by GRAHAM HUGHES /AFP via Getty Images

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The RCMP, working with other law enforcement agencies and Canadian financial institutions, says it has prevented hundreds of vehicles from being exported through Canadian ports.

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“Over the past year, Project NoCargo has led to the interception and recovery of 392 vehicles, with an estimated total value of $28 million in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver,” according to a statement released today.

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Project NoCargo was launched in June 2025 by the RCMP’s Federal Policing Criminal Operations program, assisted by INTERPOL Ottawa, with the aim of tracking down suspicious vehicle exports. The project came about after INTERPOL Ottawa detected transnational organized crime networks engaging in vehicle finance fraud by stealing or manufacturing personal credentials and using them to apply for vehicle loans, as well as insurance policies with the intention of committing insurance fraud.

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These criminal operations contributed to an estimated $900 million in insurance losses last year, says the statement. Through Project NoCargo, the CBSA have been referring cases presenting potential fraud to the RCMP for investigation.

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The 2026 Canadian Auto Theft Impact Survey from Équité Association, a national not-for-profit that collaborates with Canadian property and casualty insurers to fight fraud, found that more than one-third of Canadians have been affected by auto theft, but only 18 per cent of the respondents believe vehicles can be built to withstand modern technology-based theft tactics.

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Équité says auto theft in Canada has decreased by 33 per cent since 2023, due to the federal government’s national action plan to combat auto theft. But 55 per cent of respondents also pointed to evolving tactics by organized crime. Two thirds believe meaningful progress requires a coordinated response among governments, manufacturers, law enforcement and vehicle owners. That’s up slightly from 61 per cent in 2023.

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Canadian communities “are justifiably concerned about public safety and evolving criminal tactics,” says Bryan Gast, national vice president of Intelligence & Investigations at Équité Association. “Canadians are telling us clearly that they feel security protections should be built into their vehicles (72 per cent), not sold to them as an after-market add-on.”

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Gast noted that organized crime has traded crowbars for technology-based theft, such as key fob relay attacks and reprogramming to bypass vehicle security systems.

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National Post previously reported that Toronto had 12,170 car thefts in 2023, with some residents of Rosedale, one of the city’s wealthy neighbourhoods, hiring private security as a means of prevention. Amid the auto theft crisis, some residents also installed retractable bollards, or short, vertical posts, to form a theft-prevention barrier around their vehicles.