One of the world's worst countries for car thefts is not one that you might expect. Nevertheless, Canada is dealing with an epidemic of stolen vehicles.
The number is staggering: More than 105,000 cars have been stolen in Canada since 2022, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). That translates to one car stolen every 5 minutes. Since February 2024 alone, more than 1,500 vehicles first stolen in Canada have been detected around the world, according to Interpol.
"The pervasiveness of car thefts in Canada is surprising given how small the country's population is compared to the U.S. and the U.K. — other countries with high rates of such crime," Alexis Piquero, the director of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, said to the BBC.Â
Cars "have become a lucrative business for crime rings," Bryan Gast, the vice president of investigative services at Canadian insurance fraud tracker Équité Association, said to The Wall Street Journal.Â
Many stolen Canadian cars are often found in Africa, where "demand for used cars" is "surging" due to a growing middle class on the continent, the Journal said. About 40% of the world's used cars are in Africa, and newer models are "sold at substantial markups to what they could fetch in Canada."
Car theft remains "one of the top three revenue generators for organized crime" in Canada, Nick Milinovich, deputy chief of the Peel Regional Police, said to the CBC. It is "high reward, low risk." | 
