Canada becomes the centre of car theft in world

Earlier this summer, Interpol ranked Canada among the 10 worst countries for car theft among the 137 countries represented in the organisation's database.

Azernews reports that Interpol's press secretary called this a "special" achievement, considering that Canada started sharing its information with the international police organisation only in February 2024.

According to Interpol, since February of this year, more than 1,500 cars stolen in Canada have been detected in different countries around the world; every week, as a rule, another 200 cars continue to be identified at the ports of other countries.

Auto theft has become such an epidemic that the Insurance Bureau of Canada has called it a "national crisis." Last year, insurers paid out more than C$1.5 billion (about $1 billion) in auto theft claims.

According to publications, the prevalence and statistics of car theft in Canada are staggering, while the country's population is much smaller than that of the United States and Great Britain, where similar crimes are high. In addition, Canada does not have as many port cities as, for example, the United States.

According to Elliott Silverstein, director of government relations for the Canadian Automobile Association, the way Canadian ports operate makes them more vulnerable to this type of crime.

"The port system focuses more on what comes into the country than what comes out of the country. It is difficult to track the vehicles since I am not familiar with the containers in the port," he said.

As many publications have emphasised, comprehensive measures and enhanced cooperation are necessary at both the national and international levels to effectively solve the problem.