A vehicle stolen from a Saskatoon business in Canada has been traced to Ghana, uncovering an international fraud ring that uses identity theft and forged documents to acquire luxury vehicles before shipping them to West Africa.
Saskatoon police announced this week that a fraud investigation that began in January 2025 has revealed international connections, with a Land Rover stolen from a business on Faithfull Avenue eventually found in Ghana.
According to police, a man from Alberta visited the business on January 14, 2025 and purchased a Land Rover. It was later discovered that the vehicle was bought using identity fraud. Police investigation found the vehicle had been taken to British Columbia, and with help from Edmonton police and the Canada Border Services Agency, officers learned it was being shipped to Ghana.
Officers later confirmed the vehicle was in Ghana.
During the investigation, police received word that on 3rd February 2025, a BMW X5 was fraudulently purchased from another business on Faithfull Avenue. The suspect travelled from Alberta using a Quebec driver’s licence that had been altered after being reported lost in Quebec. The suspect was arrested in Edmonton.
Saskatoon police have charged a 21-year-old man with fraud over 5,000 Canadian dollars, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of an identity document belonging to another person, fraudulently impersonating another person, using a forged document and breaching court-imposed conditions.
Ghana Police task force impounding luxury vehicles
The development comes as Ghana’s Criminal Investigations Department has been actively working to intercept stolen vehicles arriving at the country’s ports. In August 2025, the CID formed a specialised task force to investigate and seize high-end vehicles reported stolen abroad but cleared through Ghana’s ports.
During a joint press conference in Accra on August 4, 2025, Director-General of the CID, Commissioner of Police Lydia Yaako Donkor, disclosed that between January and July 2025, the task force impounded six luxury vehicles stolen from Canada. These included four Toyota Tundras, one Toyota RAV4, and one Range Rover.
COP Donkor explained that some suspects failed to complete rental agreements abroad, cutting off contact with the rental firms before shipping the vehicles. Others used fake or stolen credit card details to acquire vehicles through hire-purchase schemes, then disabled their tracking systems before exporting them.
She stressed that paying customs duties in Ghana does not make a stolen vehicle legal, and warned vehicle importers to conduct thorough checks before bringing in vehicles from abroad. Those who fail to do so risk losing their property and facing legal consequences.
The CID, working with Interpol Ghana, has recovered 43 stolen luxury vehicles between January and July last year. Eighteen of the vehicles have been marked for repatriation, with eight already returned to their countries of origin. The remaining ten are awaiting transfer.
The task force will continue to carry out intelligence-led operations and work with international agencies to tackle cross-border vehicle crime and protect Ghana’s ports, COP Donkor said.
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