TORONTO - Nineteen Toronto-area men are facing charges following an investigation into an alleged crime ring where vehicle collisions were staged in an insurance fraud scam.
Toronto police and the Insurance Bureau of Canada started the investigation in late October when officers probed a crash in east-end Toronto and made five arrests.
Police allege those involved in the ring bought vehicles that had been in collisions, made some cosmetic repairs, then placed them in the name of a third party and insured the vehicles for a value far exceeding their actual worth.
Investigators say the vehicles were involved in staged collisions where there were claims of injury, even when no one was in the vehicles at the time.
Police say they investigated seven such collisions involving 39 drivers and passengers, two tow-truck operators, at least two repair facilities and an auto reseller.
Police say 14 people have been arrested over the past few days on conspiracy and fraud-related charges.
Uthayakanthan Thirunavukkarasu, 34; Philip Dacamara, 28; William Burgess, 47; Baalachandran Nadarajah, 49; Satheeskumar Subramaniam, 25; Ravinjan Paramsothy, 43; Vivekananthan Pathmanathan, 52; Puvanenthirarajah Shanmugasundaram, 20; Haris Ahmed, 20; and Haroon Al-Kisadi, 19 -- all from Toronto -- are facing charges.
Michael Paul, 20; Shadeem Ford-Wright, 19; and Trumane Exeter, 20; all of Pickering, Ont., as well as Mark Livingston, 43, of Oshawa, Ont., have also been charged.
The five arrests made in October include Toronto men Bartheepan Balasundaram, 20; Abasteh Abbas, 28; and Peyman Salamat, 28; as well as Kengeswaran Sinnadurai, 47, of Oshawa and Pushparajah Sinnathurai, 44, of Woodbridge, Ont.
