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Shoplifting probe uncovers organized ring linked to Mexico

By MICHAEL JIGGINS

Staff Writer


The arrest of two Mexican nationals in Brockville earlier this month is starting to unravel an international criminal organization, city police say.

An organization police believe sent teams of Mexicans to Canada to buy high-end products with phoney credit cards and smuggle the items back to Mexico for resale.

"We definitely feel from the information that we have that it is an organized ring connected right back to Mexico," Inspector Lee MacArthur of Brockville police told The Recorder and Times on Thursday.

"What appeared to be a local shoplifting offence É turned into definitely organized individuals who got caught."

Torres Dee Labra Alfredo and Otero Castaneda Ricardo, both 33 and from Mexico, were arrested February 11 and charged with five counts each of possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000 in connection with the stolen property.

Alfredo and Ricardo have been held in custody since their arrest and are to appear in Brockville court this morning.

MacArthur said additional charges against the two men are expected.

They were arrested when stopped by Constable Serge Landry as they were attempting to get onto Highway 401.

Inside the van they were driving, police found luxury products including watches, clothes, shoes, perfume and MP3 players along with cash now valued at more than $82,000.

They also found five credit cards that city police say are fake and were used to buy items from stores between Niagara Falls and Brockville over a five-day period.

Police got the description of the pair after they fled the Parkedale Avenue Wal-Mart when a clerk called to verify a phoney credit card they attempted to use.

It was the first time the pair had been challenged by a clerk, police have said.

There have been no further arrests in connection with the investigation.

However, working with police agencies in Ontario, Quebec, Mexico and Interpol, MacArthur said Brockville Detective Scott Fraser is piecing together details of how the organization worked.

Police allege the men were involved in a scheme that transfers magnetic strip data from legitimate credit cards onto the phoney blank cards.

Most of the cards in question were American Express, said MacArthur and used information taken from cards stolen in Mexico.

He described the suspects as "players" in a larger scheme.

The duo arrived at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on February 6.

"We do have false documentation travelling with them, passports and things like that," MacArthur noted.


Published in Section A, page 1 in the Friday, February 24, 2006 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.
Posted 4:41:37 PM Friday, February 24, 2006.