One week after releasing the B.C. Top 10 Most Wanted Car Thieves list, police have arrested not one, but two, of the province's most notorious offenders.
Both Geraldo Balmana Adano and Carl Travis Soderstrom -- numbers 10 and 6 respectively -- have been arrested, police announced Tuesday.
Adano, 37, was spotted by police driving a 2001 Mustang that had been reported stolen just before 3:00 a.m. in New Westminster Tuesday morning.
After a four-minute pursuit starting at 6th Avenue and 10th Avenue in New Westminster, Adano made a break for the highway at Kensington Street and Canada Way in Burnaby, but then turned back and surrendered to police.
He was arrested without incident.
Adano was wanted on warrants for possession of break-in instruments, fail to stop and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
He is now facing two new charges of possession of stolen property, flight and breach of recognizance.
Soderstrom was wanted by Chilliwack police for possession of stolen property. After the list was reported April 1, police were alerted that Soderstrom was already in custody in Edmonton on auto theft charges there.
He's pled guilty to B.C. charges already as well.
The goal of the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team (IMPACT) is to capture all ten during April's Auto Crime Enforcement campaign.
IMPACT was formed by various police forces from around the province in an effort to reduce rampant car theft.
The team says it has reduced overall auto theft by 38 per cent in the past five years.
IMPACT started its highly successful Bait Car Program, as well as an educational video called 'Stolen Lives' to target high school students, and uses Automatic Licence Plate Recognition technology (ALPR) to search for stolen vehicles.
Surrey remains the so-called 'car theft capital' of B.C., with approximately 2,900 vehicles stolen in 2007 -- eight each day of the year.
