Freight forwarder accused of possessing stolen goods

The paperwork for the shipping container bound from Toronto to Lagos, Nigeria, in 2007 was clear.

Inside were four older vehicles – a Ford Windstar minivan, a Chrysler 300, an Isuzu Rodeo and a Toyota Corolla – with identifying numbers recorded on documents needed to send goods out of Canada.

The problem with this shipment?

The paperwork described vehicles that were not in the container.

Instead, it held four cars recently stolen from the GTA: A 2006 Acura TL, a 2005 Mazda3, a 2002 Toyota RAV4 and a 2001 Honda Odyssey.

Police detectives allege a veteran Toronto freight forwarder is behind this.

Bismark Owusu-Ansah, 47, is charged with 12 counts of possession of stolen property over $5,000 and one count of theft over $5,000 in connection with these four cars and others. His trial is in November.

The Star caught up with Owusu-Ansah this week. He said he had no idea the cars were stolen.

"We sell cars and we ship cars," he said.

"I have been doing this for the last 15 years. Police think that everyone who is shipping cars is stealing cars."

Owusu-Ansah is the owner of the International Business Centre, the company that shipped the vehicles.

His office is in a rundown complex in north Etobicoke. A sign in his yard advertises "shipping to Africa and around the world."

Originally from Ghana, Owusu-Ansah drives a sleek BMW, licence plate 4Bismark.

He was adamant in two interviews that he is not a car thief.

"I give people containers. I never see the cars. I don't even know the colours of the cars in the container," he said.

Five years ago, Owusu-Ansah's activities as a freight forwarder came under fire in a Toronto courtroom in the trial of a man accused of fraud.

The crown alleged the man who claimed his Lexus was stolen had really shipped it to Africa to profit from both insurance and the sale.

At trial, the Lexus owner was acquitted and the judge determined the man was actually the victim.

In his ruling, the judge found that Owusu-Ansah promised to sell the man's car, but shipped it overseas instead.

When the man asked for his car back, he was given a different, but identical, Lexus. Two days later, that Lexus was stolen while the man was shopping.

In his ruling, Justice David Corbett said responsibility for what happened to the Lexus "lay at least in part at Mr. Owusu-Ansah's place of business."

Corbett said the Lexus was "shipped by Mr. Owusu-Ansah without permission of the registered owners, and in very suspicious circumstances."

Owusu-Ansah was not charged in that case.

Corbett was perplexed that a car could be shipped without the owner's written permission.

"How simple it would be to insist on proper proof of identity, ownership and authorization, and yet without that requirement it may be impossible to bring the guilty parties to justice," the judge wrote.