Hamilton police say they’ve arrested three men and a woman in connection with an alleged international auto theft and export ring.

Det.-Sgt. Andrea Torrie says investigators have been looking at the alleged ring since August, but early evidence suggests it had been operating for at least the past few years.

Torrie says members allegedly stole rental cars from across southern Ontario, then either sent them overseas or dismantled them for parts.

She says investigators tracked 39 stolen vehicles over the course of their four-month investigation, and the alleged thefts were worth an estimated $1.6 million.

Officers uncovered several vehicles in shipping containers that were bound for Iraq, and recovered more while executing search warrants at Hamilton-area businesses and homes.

The four suspects are facing dozens of charges between them, and Torrie says more may be pending.

She said the alleged ring typically targeted higher-end vehicles, such as Mercedes and Audis. She said the group used at least two routine tactics to carry out the alleged thefts.

“First they would use fraudulent documents to rent the vehicles and then they would just never return them,” Torrie said at a news conference. “The second way we were finding is they were renting the vehicles, they were cloning the keys, they were returning the vehicle, and they were going back and stealing them with the cloned keys.”

Torrie said the woman they arrested in the case lives with the man facing the bulk of the charges, and the three men appear to be business associates.

The investigation remains active, she said.