Investigators have laid 96 criminal charges after recovering 52 vehicles valued at over $3.2 million stolen in Ontario.

The York Regional Police announced today, Monday, that a group of individuals were targeting luxury vehicles and planning to smuggle them to distant places such as Azerbaijan and Georgia in Eastern Europe.

The group is alleged to have used residential areas to store vehicles recently stolen from the Greater Toronto Area and Southwestern Ontario.

Six search warrants were executed in December 2023 and January 2024 in Vaughan, Toronto, London, Cambridge, and Bradford, resulting in the recovery of 52 vehicles. In return, the police charged eleven people with nearly 100 criminal offenses, including, but not limited to, auto theft and trafficking in property obtained by crime.

The following suspects were charged: Scarborough residents Zain Afzal, 20, and Urban Dutta, 20; Andrei Pokrovski, 57, of Newmarket; Mohamed Hadi, 35, of Cambridge; Darren Brolix residing in London; Sinan Abbasov, 64, of Brantford; Sadkul Derman, 54, of Kitchener; and Toronto residents Ibrahim Tiro, 32, Kamal Al-Haj Dani, 46, Mina Pepineto, 31, and Shaibo Koli, 34.

The investigation – named Project Mamba – was a joint cooperation between the York Regional Police Auto Theft Unit, the Canada Border Services Agency, and the Equity organization.

The rising issue of car thefts and shipping them abroad is set to be addressed at a national summit on February 8. The meeting will gather provincial officials and industry representatives aiming to stop car theft linked to organized crime.

Police across the Greater Toronto Area have seen a 300 percent increase in car thefts since 2015.