14 stolen cars seized by police were taken from Mississauga, Brampton, elsewhere in southern Ontario

Six men face a total of 63 charges after police recovered 14 stolen vehicles that had been taken by thieves from various locations across the Greater Toronto Area and beyond including Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton and as far away as Ottawa.

Five of those charged are from Toronto while the sixth man is from Ajax, Toronto Police said in a news release on Wednesday morning.

An investigation into the theft and trafficking of vehicles that began last August and was spearheaded by the Toronto Police hold-up squad led to a pair of separate discoveries of stolen vehicles:

• Sept. 13, 2024: six stolen vehicles taken from Mississauga, Brampton, Toronto, York and Halton were found inside a shipping container that had been intercepted by officers with the Canada Border Services Agency
• Jan. 24, 2025: eight stolen vehicles taken from Toronto, Halton, Durham and Ottawa were located during the execution of six search warrants in the GTA

During the most recent discovery of stolen vehicles last Friday, five of the six men charged were arrested and officers also found a replica handgun, ammunition, a GPS jammer and other items of evidence related to the investigation, police said.

Facing numerous counts of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 in addition to other offences are Khalad Alazrak, 57, Wajdi Shamsa, 40, Mohammad Najjar, 28, Ahmad Khaled Ahmad Shawer, 27, and Metib Ali Awwad Elfawair, 20, all of Toronto, and Belal Khaled Alazrak, 31, of Ajax.

Two of those charged appeared in Toronto court earlier this week while four others are scheduled to make court appearances on March 18.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact police at 416-808-7350 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.