The Queensland Police Service has confirmed seven arrests and 380 charges have been laid following a spate of Toyota thefts across Brisbane late last year, involving an alleged crime syndicate that shipped vehicles overseas.
Police allege the syndicate targeted Toyota LandCruiser and Toyota Prado vehicles, stealing around 60 vehicles worth approximately $8 million on Brisbane’s southside between October 20 and December 1, 2025.
According to authorities, the stolen vehicles were accessed via the CAN bus port, allowing thieves to take control of the vehicles and disable Toyota’s satellite tracking device.
The Courier Mail reported the vehicles were then shipped overseas to destinations including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the seven men from a variety of backgrounds allegedly forming part of an international crime network.
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“They were well-disciplined, sophisticated and certainly motivated,” Queensland Police Detective Inspector Paul Dalton told The Courier Mail.
One of the alleged perpetrators faced a Brisbane court last month and was denied bail by the magistrate due to the sophisticated nature of the operation.
The accused operated a wrecking yard in the Brisbane suburb of Rocklea, where some of the stolen vehicles were allegedly stowed.
On December 2, 2025, Queensland police’s POLAIR unit tracked a stolen Toyota to the yard, where two shipping containers containing LandCruisers and stolen parts were discovered.
“There’d been no offences of this nature since the first arrests were made on December 2, and the community can rest assured that this syndicate no longer poses an ongoing threat,” Detective Inspector Dalton said.
Of the 60 stolen vehicles, only 15 have been recovered, including nine found in Port Melbourne, Victoria, following a similar spate of Toyota thefts earlier in 2025, which has prompted police to investigate potential links between the two operations.
“We’re aware that the only other jurisdiction where this type of offending has happened is Victoria earlier in the year, where I think 150-plus motor vehicles were stolen,” added Detective Inspector Dalton.
“Once again, any connection prior to them meeting in Brisbane is still part of our investigation, and we are working with our international and national counterparts to identify that.”
Car theft in Victoria increased by 40 per cent in the 12 months to June 2025, when it reached its highest level in more than two decades.
The issue has been raised by CarExpert with Toyota, which says it’s working on a fix to make stealing the popular models more difficult.
The Prado was Toyota Australia’s third-best selling model in 2025 when it found 26,106 new homes, placing it behind the Ford Ranger, Toyota’s own RAV4 and HiLux, the Isuzu D-Max, and the Ford Everest.