MONTREAL- Five billion dollars. That’s how much falls off the back of trucks each year in Canada.

Now law enforcement is working with the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) and the Quebec Trucking Association on a cargo theft reporting program, similar to the one recently announced in Ontario.

IBC and the Canadian Trucking Alliance are launching cargo theft reporting pilot program in Quebec and Ontario and plan to expand them to the rest of Canada.

Southern Ontario, Vancouver and Montreal are hardest hit by cargo theft. And according to police, one of the biggest challenges law enforcement officers face in property recovery are that the thefts are not always reported right away and trying to identify the goods once they are found.

But now, members of the Quebec Trucking Association as well as insurance can anonymously declare cargo theft directly from an online reporting form.

IBC will act as an information center, collecting and analyzing the data received to quickly share information with its national network of partners in law enforcement and border agencies. IBC will be able to search this database to identify owners of property once stolen cargo is found, speeding up the recovery process.

“We are very pleased about this partnership which will help us more actively combat cargo theft. It is essential that these crimes be solved and recorded, and that the criminals be prosecuted. These crimes are very costly and benefit organized crime,” said Charles Rabbat, director, investigative services, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, at IBC.