Toronto’s police chief wants gun owners to get tagged on their vehicles. https://t.co/shXQxiQKvr pic.twitter.com/OmNp9cOmRv — The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail) April 4, 2018
Surveillance video has revealed who stole a police officer’s car in Toronto: One of Canada’s two largest police forces.
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders says he was notified Tuesday morning of the stolen BMW. Saunders told reporters a patrol officer noticed his unmarked vehicle had been stolen from a driveway Sunday afternoon, CBC News reported.
The stolen car was soon tracked to a Halifax port, where it was loaded onto a cargo ship headed to the Middle East, the Toronto Sun reported.
A car chase ensued, with the now-tacitly-booby-trapped vehicle reportedly travelling at 80 to 100 miles per hour at one point.
At one point, Saunders’ colleagues joined the chase, strafing the police vehicle with bullets. But the car sped off before the gunners could shoot at it.
The vehicle that would end up being hijacked was stopped less than a mile from the Bonaventure Expressway, police said.
The accused vehicle-theft ringleader, Amil Khan, was apprehended at a traffic circle where he had run from police.
He had a gun in his possession, but was only arrested because a citizen was able to detain him until police arrived, the Toronto Sun reported.
The unnamed citizen used the photographer’s nose to photograph the police vehicle being stolen, CBC News reported. That photo helped police identify the stolen BMW when they analyzed images from the frame.
“What the citizen did was incredible,” Saunders said. “This was a crime that should not have happened.”