Close X
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
ADVT 
National

Vancouver police crack down on stolen goods that turn up on downtown sidewalks

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 06 Jun, 2024 03:47 PM
  • Vancouver police crack down on stolen goods that turn up on downtown sidewalks

Vancouver police say a crackdown on the sale of stolen goods that turn up on the sidewalks of the city's Downtown Eastside has led to five arrests and turned up more than $650,000 in cash, drugs and stolen property.

Insp. Mario Mastropieri says a shoplifting "epidemic" is fuelling an illicit market in stolen goods run by organized criminals, that's affecting small businesses, their staff, and customers.

He says in a statement that much of the stolen property "runs straight through the Downtown Eastside," where it's bought in plain sight, then re-sold online for profit.

Specialized investigators worked with front line officers this spring to track stolen property from store shelves to downtown sidewalks, where police say "organized fencing operations pay pennies on the dollar for stolen goods."

They say investigators then tracked stolen property — ranging from designer clothing to liquor to baby formula — to several homes in East Vancouver.

Police say search warrants stemming from the months-long operation led to five arrests, with suspects facing charges related to the possession of stolen property.

"Our work confirmed that fencing operations are fuelling an underground economy of shoplifting, and that some criminals are making thousands of dollars a week for buying and selling stolen merchandise," Mastropieri's statement says.

He says criminals have been recruiting desperate residents of the Downtown Eastside, where many struggle with addiction, to steal from stores in the area.

"They pay the thieves a fraction of the retail price for the merchandise they've stolen, then live comfortably off the avails of the goods they resell for big profits."

The suspects arrested in March, April and May include two men and three women, ranging in age from their 40s to their 60s.

Police say searches of two East Vancouver homes led to the recovery of $233,000 worth of stolen property and the seizure of two Toyota vehicles that investigators believe were being used to move the goods out of the Downtown Eastside.

At another property near Trout Lake Park, police say they seized $107,000 worth of stolen property as well as $10,000 worth of cocaine and fentanyl.

Police say the arrests are among nearly 1,200 they've made since launching a project to clamp down on "violent and chronic shoplifting" in February 2023.

MORE National ARTICLES

Flight PS752 victims' families say they're not sorry to hear of Iran president death

Flight PS752 victims' families say they're not sorry to hear of Iran president death
Members of a Canadian group representing families of those killed when Iranian officials shot down Flight PS752 in January 2020 say they are not sorry to hear of the death of Iran's president. President Ebrahim Raisi and Iran's foreign minister were found dead Monday, hours after their helicopter crashed in fog.  

Flight PS752 victims' families say they're not sorry to hear of Iran president death

Meta's news ban in Canada: screenshots win, local news loses, study shows

Meta's news ban in Canada: screenshots win, local news loses, study shows
National news outlets lost about 64 per cent of the engagement previously generated by users on their Facebook pages, the preliminary research shows.  Local news outlets lost about 85 per cent of their Facebook engagement, the study says, and almost half of all local news outlets stopped posting on Facebook entirely in the four months following the ban. 

Meta's news ban in Canada: screenshots win, local news loses, study shows

Environment Canada warns of snowfall and hazardous driving on B.C. Interior highways

Environment Canada warns of snowfall and hazardous driving on B.C. Interior highways
Environment Canada is warning drivers about snow on some southern British Columbia mountain passes that may cause sudden hazardous driving conditions. The weather office issued special weather statements Tuesday morning for the Coquihalla Highway, Allison Pass, Okanagan Connector, and Kootenay Pass.

Environment Canada warns of snowfall and hazardous driving on B.C. Interior highways

B.C. mayor warns against videos of properties destroyed by fire outside Fort Nelson

B.C. mayor warns against videos of properties destroyed by fire outside Fort Nelson
Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor Rob Fraser said it was "insensitive" and "unconscionable" that images of properties destroyed by the Parker Lake wildfire outside Fort Nelson had been shared before owners were told of the damage by authorities.

B.C. mayor warns against videos of properties destroyed by fire outside Fort Nelson

President tells Gaza protesters that University of B.C. must remain neutral

President tells Gaza protesters that University of B.C. must remain neutral
The president of the University of British Columbia has told pro-Palestinian protesters that the school must remain neutral on the Gaza conflict. Benoit-Antoine Bacon says in response to demands by the organizers of a protest encampment on the Vancouver campus that professors and students hold a broad range of opinions and the university can't "presume to speak for everyone."

President tells Gaza protesters that University of B.C. must remain neutral

B.C. man shoots grizzly bear in attack that left him with broken bones, cuts

B.C. man shoots grizzly bear in attack that left him with broken bones, cuts
A hunter in southeastern British Columbia managed to shoot a grizzly bear that attacked him on Thursday and left him with broken bones and cuts. RCMP in Elk Valley, near Fernie, say the 36-year-old man from nearby Sparwood was out with his father when he was attacked by an adult grizzly.

B.C. man shoots grizzly bear in attack that left him with broken bones, cuts