ON October 19 at 9:49 a.m., a concerned resident called police to report a suspicious vehicle in the 9800-block of 134 Street.

Surrey RCMP Auto Crime Target Team (ACTT) immediately attended the area and through extensive patrols, located the vehicle almost an hour later in the 13100-block of 98A Avenue. The vehicle had stolen licence plates.

ACTT and the Community Response Unit (CRU) set up surveillance on the vehicle, which lead to the arrest of one youth, and the recovery of two stolen vehicles. Both recovered vehicles were found to have jerry cans full of gasoline inside.

A 17-year-old Calgary resident has been charged with possession of stolen property and remains in custody. The youth also had outstanding warrants for possession for the purposes of trafficking out of Calgary.

“We encourage members of our community to report all suspicious activity to police and this is an example of why,” said Surrey RCMP Media Relations Officer, Constable Sarbjit K. Sangha, on Thursday.

She pointed out: “This report lead to the seizure of two stolen vehicles, an arrest, and may have prevented another crime from occurring. Often stolen vehicles are utilized to commit serious criminal offences and then later set on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence of the crime.”