An Ontario auto service business is struggling to clear its name after the Ontario Provincial Police arrested the owner of a chop shop operating out of a separate unit on the same property.
“It was a shop rented in the back of ours,” a representative of Buckthorn Garage told Collision Repair. "It has nothing to do with us!"
The representative, who asked not to be identified, said confusion following the police investigation has led to misinformation circulating online. “The business was completely separate from our garage or the gas station and the food trucks -- but there's a lot of confusion on social media.”
In social media posts discussing the story, several members of the Buckthorn community inaccurately asserted Buckthorn Garage and the gas station had been closed as a result of the arrest.
According to Ontario Provincial Police, officers with the Peterborough County detachment received information on Jan. 29, 2026, about the possible location of a stolen vehicle at a business property in Buckhorn. The following day, members of the Peterborough/Northumberland Community Street Crime Unit executed a warrant at a leased unit on the property.
Police said officers located several newer-model stolen vehicles that had been cut into pieces and wrapped for shipment. Investigators seized parts from at least 13 stolen vehicles, along with a forklift, tools and licence plates believed to be connected to additional thefts.
The OPP identified the alleged criminal as Wajdi Shamsa, 41, of Toronto. He was charged with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 and was held for bail to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Peterborough.
The Buckhorn Garage representative said Shamsa held the lease on the unit where police executed the warrant.
Shamsa was also charged in a separate Toronto Police investigation in January 2025 involving stolen vehicles, according to previous reporting by CityNews Toronto.
