Two arrested in vehicle theft investigation; police seize vehicles, drugs and cash
Published November 30, 2020 at 11:25 pm
Police have made two arrests as part of a major vehicle theft investigation.
In September of this year, police services in the GTA (including Peel police, Hamilton police and Halton police) began investigating an increase in test drive thefts occurring at local dealerships.
“The suspects in these thefts used fraudulent identities and in many cases took advantage of current COVID-19 precautions to secure unescorted test drives and steal vehicles,” Halton police said.
“In some cases, when the test drive was escorted by a sales representative, a staged collision was orchestrated in order to complete the theft.”
Police say Mercedes products were primarily targeted.
On Saturday, November 28, Peel police arrested two suspects in possession of a recently stolen vehicle.
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Subsequent search warrants were executed by Halton police at two Brampton residences and on one vehicle. As a result, investigators allegedly seized a second vehicle (believed to have been stolen from an Oakville dealership), approximately 450 grams of fentanyl, 45 grams of crack cocaine, a quantity of suspected Xanax tablets, and approximately $10,000.
18 year old Azad Sandhu from Brampton has been charged with:
- Theft of motor vehicle (3 counts)
- Possession of a counterfeit mark (false identity documents)
20 year old Steven Singh from Mississauga has been charged with:
- Theft of motor vehicle (8 counts)
- Utter forged documents (8 counts)
- Possession of counterfeit mark (false identity documents)
- Possession for the purpose of trafficking (3 counts- Fentanyl, Xanax, Cocaine)
Both Sandhu and Singh were held in custody pending a bail hearing.
“The theft of motor vehicle and related charges are in connection with incidents that occurred in Halton, Peel, Hamilton, and South Simcoe,” said Halton police.
Prior to these arrests, Halton police investigators also executed a search at a Toronto residence in October. Multiple items were seized including a Mercedes vehicle stolen from Hamilton, stolen Ontario dealer plates, fraudulent Ontario and Quebec driver’s licences, and approximately $3000.
As a result of that earlier investigation, 23 year old Yassine Jenkal from Toronto was arrested and charged with:
- Possession of Property Obtained by Crime (over $5000)
- Possession of Property Obtained by Crime (under $5000) (2 Counts)
- Tampering with Vehicle Identification Number
- Possession of a Counterfeit Mark (4 counts)
Anyone with further information that can assist the investigation is asked to call Halton police at 905-825-4747 ext. 2306.
Photo courtesy of Halton police
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