Police have arrested two suspects in a series of violent car thefts in the Toronto area over a month.
Police say they believe the suspects were responsible for a total of 19 car thefts in Toronto, York and Peel between March and April this year.
Authorities say in many of the incidents, the suspects were traveling on major highways in search of “high-end SUVs” to target. They then follow these vehicles to a nearby intersection or, in some cases, to the victim’s home.
After the victims stopped, police said the suspects would approach them and ask to get out of their vehicles, in many cases using physical violence.
“We can only imagine the trauma the victim would suffer being subjected to such a robbery. These are violent, violent people and for the most part the victims have looked after their work, performing their usual daily actions and have been ambushed by these two violent people “, Insp. Rich Harris told reporters at a news conference Tuesday morning. “I can only guess at the lasting effects. But it has lasting psychological effects on victims. “
Harris said most of the victims complied, but were still subjected to “unprovoked physical attacks.” He said several of the victims received injuries that required treatment, including one who was eventually hospitalized.
The suspects, he said, probably intended to sell the vehicles to “illegal companies in the GTA” or deliver them abroad.
However, police eventually managed to find 17 of the stolen vehicles after arresting the two suspects at a hotel in Mississauga last month.
Harris said the total value of the stolen vehicles was fixed at $ 1 million to $ 1.5 million.
“The suspects used extreme violence against the victims while carrying out these actions with the sole intention of stealing these vehicles for profit,” he said. “This is by no means an investigation, it is still ongoing. I can’t go too deep into that, but we’re still looking for some exceptional people. “
Toronto’s 22-year-old Merrick Bedoui and 19-year-old Toronto’s Christopher Ugochukwu were arrested on April 11 and face more than 90 combined charges of car theft.
Police say a large amount of illegal property was seized when the suspects were arrested, including a loaded Glock pistol, which was modified to make it automatic, and two overcapacity stores.
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