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 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.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Avalanche kills two in B.C.'s backcountry

Search and rescue crews were notified when the victims were reported overdue and their bodies were later recovered from the scene of the avalanche. Avalanche Canada says the area of the slide was highly wind-affected, leaving some parts of the slope thin and rocky, while other sections had up to 130 centimetres of snow.

Avalanche kills two in B.C.'s backcountry

Pandemic support lowered B.C.'s child poverty rate

It's the largest one-year drop in the rate since 2000, but one in eight children were still living in poverty, and the report says rates were "dramatically higher" among children living on First Nation reserves and those who recently immigrated.

Pandemic support lowered B.C.'s child poverty rate

MPs want more earthquake donations matched

The federal government has offered to match up to $10 million in donations to the Canadian Red Cross for their partners on the ground to help people who are suddenly homeless. Conservative, Bloc Québécois and New Democrat MPs want to see that expanded to include other groups, an idea that is supported by at least one Liberal MP, Sameer Zuberi.

MPs want more earthquake donations matched

Canadian's body found in Turkey earthquake rubble

Saad Zora says his twin sister Samar was found earlier today by searchers as an excavator dug through pieces of a five-storey building in the city of Antakya. He said, "Samar was found," and added, "she didn't make it."

Canadian's body found in Turkey earthquake rubble

Across the continent, eyes on the sky — and Norad

Three separate objects were blown out of the sky in as many days over the weekend, a flurry of close encounters that followed what U.S. officials say was a Chinese surveillance balloon that floated across the continent two weeks ago.

Across the continent, eyes on the sky — and Norad

Big grocery store CEOs called to testify in Ottawa

The proposal to hear from the grocery leaders came from NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, and it received unanimous support from Liberal, Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs. Executives from all three companies, as well as Save-On-Foods, have testified at past committee meetings focused on the rising cost of food — but not their CEOs.