Representative image of armed robbery on Sunsplash by Maxim Hopman
Toronto/CMEDIA: Following Toronto police investigation into a series of carjackings and armed robberies dating back to last summer, six people were charged by the Police and recovered nearly $1 million in stolen property.
The arrests were announced by the Police at a news conference on Thursday morning, noting that the suspects targeted pharmacies and financial institutions and operated in a way that has “all the earmarks of an organized crime group.”
Stolen cars were all high-value luxury vehicles like Land Rovers and Porsches, Police said.
Although stolen luxury cars are usually shipped overseas in industrial containers to re-sell, Inspector Rich Harris, of the Toronto Police Services (TPS) Hold Up Squad, says through GPS tracking, many of the stolen vehicles were able to be recovered “before they got that far”.
GTA police was able to recover over $980,000 worth of stolen vehicles so far, with two stolen vehicles still outstanding.
The four suspects travelled around the GTA in stolen vehicles to commit these robberies, Police said and added in the majority of incidents, the suspects were armed with handguns, but at other times they used a knife or physical violence to intimidate victims.
Large quantities of cash and narcotics were stolen from the involved pharmacies. Harris said the suspects were “strictly looking for the opiates” when robbing pharmacies.
“So far this year, there have been 54 pharmacy robberies compared to 33 at this time last year — a 64 percent increase,” Harris was reported saying. “The number of carjackings remains high at 23 so far this year, with those vehicles often being used as suspect vehicles in jewellery store, financial and electronics store robberies.”
The suspects are Amir Inyat, 29, of Brampton, Shais Ejaz, 25, of Brampton, Mohammad Habib, 32, of Toronto, Kausar Rahimzada, 21, of Toronto, Steven Singh, 22, of Brampton, and an additional 15-year-old, whose name cannot be released due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Anyone with further information on this string of robberies, have been asked by the Police to come forward.
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