A new initiative, between INTERPOL and the Government of Canada, will target the multi-billion dollar global industry fueling organized crime involved in vehicle theft and illegal trade of spare parts.

Canada has become a major origin point for stolen vehicles in recent years, due to the country’s high demand for high-end SUVs and crossovers.

The vehicles are often smuggled to destinations in the Middle East and West Africa, where they are subsequently sold or traded.

From February to October 2024, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police received 2,666 alerts about Canadian vehicles and 491 international collaboration requests via INTERPOL’s Stolen Motor Vehicle database.

Stolen vehicles are often moved across continents, according to the international crime-fighting agency, requiring a coordinated international approach.

For organized crime groups, the trade of stolen vehicles and parts can be a low-risk way to fund other criminal activities.

The illicit market in spare parts can even put lives at risk, as illegitimate parts are likely to fall below recognized safety standards, the agency added.

Project Drive Out, with a budget of EUR 2.4 million, will enhance information sharing between INTERPOL member states, law enforcement agencies and private partners by increasing the detection of stolen vehicles and spare parts around the world.

The three-year project will include expanding and developing INTERPOL tools to facilitate the exchange of data between car manufacturers and police.

The project will also allow INTERPOL to support participating countries with on-the-ground operations and bolster training on identification and investigative tactics.

“Auto theft is a crime that knows no borders,” said Dominic LeBlanc, minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs in Canada. “That’s why continued collaboration between domestic and international law enforcement partners like INTERPOL is key to recovering Canadians’ stolen property and to disrupting the organized crime groups involved.”

INTERPOL’s Stolen Motor Vehicle database, the key law enforcement tool for tackling vehicle crime will be enhanced as part of Project Drive Out, the agency said.

The database currently contains more than 12 million records, allowing police in INTERPOL member countries to run a check against a suspicious vehicle and find out instantly whether it has been reported as stolen.

In 2023, there were an estimated 226,000 vehicles identified as stolen through the database and so far in 2024 the database has been searched more than 356 million times.

“Vehicle crime isn’t just about stolen cars—it’s about something far more complex, far more dangerous. It’s about organized crime using those stolen vehicles and parts as currency to fuel a network of illegal activities—from drug trafficking to human smuggling, from the arms trade to acts of terror,” said Valdecy Urquiza, INTERPOL’s secretary general.