A covert police operation into an organized group of car thieves at the long-stay parking lots at the Calgary International Airport ended with six teenage boys facing over 40 charges.

Police say they made the arrests of the boys, aged 15 and 16, last week after identifying their suspects with help from airport security and using police bait cars to catch some of the culprits in the act.

Since October 2012, police say over 20 cars were stolen and officers also investigated dozens of smash and grabs in which thieves stole iPods, wallets, GPS units or anything else in sight.

“The stolen vehicles were essentially used for joyriding,” said Acting Insp. Mike Bossley. “They weren’t being shipped anywhere.”

Police say the majority of the vehicles were left unlocked and the keys were sometimes left inside.

“This was a crime of opportunity and all of the vehicles ranged from every different make and model,” said Bossley.

All of the stolen vehicles were recovered, but some were damaged in the joyrides.

“Some of these vehicles were left unlocked so it’s just an easy opportunity once they got into the vehicle they found a key and then they were able to take that vehicle,” he said.

The airport authority said it has since made security upgrades and has undergone a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design review.

“We take this very seriously,” said spokeswoman Jody Moseley. “Our first response is to work with Calgary city police on finding different ways to make sure this doesn’t occur again and working together to make sure that we do anything we could to help them apprehend the individuals who were involved.”

She said the airport has uniformed and plain clothes security personnel that monitor the lots 24 hours a day and there are cameras at the entrances and exits to the parkade.

Police are reminding people to keep their vehicles locked, remove valuables or hide them, take out extra keys and remove garage door openers since they can be used to gain access to the vehicle owner’s house.

The suspects cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

smassinon@calgaryherald.com