For the second time this month we're hearing about thieves making off with very expensive medical equipment.
Last week, three men allegedly forced their way into a surgical area of Toronto Western Hospital and made off with over $1 million in Endoscopy equipment. Police described it as a "well-planned heist." The suspects are still out there, the equipment hasn't been recovered.
Today we've learned X-Ray equipment worth $80,000 was stolen out of a vehicle in Hamilton at the beginning of this month.
"I know in the past we've seen some people specifically looking for laboratory equipment because, obviously, they're running labs presumably for drugs. This is different. The one device that was stolen out of a vehicle that was an X-Ray machine, that may well have been circumstance and someone saw a shiny toy and took it, thinking it might be worth some money," says former Commissioner of the OPP Chris Lewis.
He says when thieves start to force their way into hospitals to steal equipment..."it seems like a different world, to me, in terms of somebody specifically looking for something specific and knowing where to get it. That may suggest someone with inside knowledge, as well. I don't know of any hot market or commodity out there for medical equipment other than the laboratory stuff," he adds.
Lewis says when the people responsible go to try and sell the equipment, which he's certain they will, it'll be their downfall. "Somebody out there is going to say 'hey, someone is trying to sell medical equipment' and that'll spread like wildfire. We had surveillance equipment stolen out of a police car one time, locked in the truck, in a parking lot in Ottawa. It had no value to anybody on the planet. Eventually they tried to sell it, word spread, and we ended up buying it back through an undercover guy and making arrests."
He would be surprised if this is a trend and believes these may be a couple of unrelated incidents. "Time will tell. I don't think it's a distrurbing trend of any sort.