A pair of gangsters have been leasing cars and shipping them to Toronto to get fitted with armour plates and bullet-proof windows, according to the head of a local car lease company.
Erich Schmidt, president of Coquitlam's Four Star Auto Lease said he tried to get advance warning from police and ICBC about potential thugs renting his vehicles and was told their privacy has to be protected.
"We talked to the police and asked them if they can give us any warnings before, they said 'no, because it's the Privacy Act,' " Schmidt said, adding he got the same response from ICBC.
"They always hide behind the Privacy Act," he said. "The criminals have the biggest benefit of that stuff."
He said he would be all too pleased to refuse a lease to people who may be intending to use them for criminal activity.
The cars, he said, are virtually useless, because they can no longer be insured by ICBC.
"It's been a nightmare," Schmidt said.
Since the cars are leased for long periods, mostly four years, he can't say exactly how many have been retrofitted.
"About three I know of," Schmidt said. "One was a Lexus, a BMW and a Mercedes I believe."
He has since found out that some of his cars have been leased directly or indirectly, by the Bacon brothers, a pair linked to the Red Scorpions gang.
The Bacons have been the subject of three public warnings because rival gangs have hits on them and their associates.
How is it that regular citizens can send their car to an auto shop to have it armour plated?
"That's a great question," said White Rock-South Surrey-Cloverdale MP Russ Hiebert.
Mark Buslovich, from Inkas Armored Vehicle Manufacturing in Toronto, said the company insists on proper identification and proof of what the car will be used for.
"Of course, we have to find out who they are, what they do, the type of work they're involved, absolutely," Buslovich said, adding if someone had their cars amour-plated, it may have been through a third party, which also had legitimate uses for car armour.
"If it was done through a broker of some sort... then obviously we don't know who the end-user is at that time. The vehicles could be for re-stock, re-sales, it could be for anything."
There have been at least seven shootings in the Lower Mainland in just over a week.
— by Kevin Diakiw
http://www.bclocalnews.com/richm ... /news/39519094.html
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發表於 2009-2-13 01:39
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