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“In any search warrant, there’s always a list of things we’re searching for, and if we find those things, yes, we’ll be seizing them,” Korol said.

The information to obtain the search warrant, which includes details of what the investigators were seeking, is sealed to the public until it has been fully executed. The raid was not co-ordinated with other jurisdictions, nor were there simultaneous raids, Korol said.

Thomas Tetzlaff, Volkswagen Canada’s manager of public relations, said the investigators came unannounced, and that the company is co-operating. “We’ll continue to co-operate with them until they have the information they require,” he said. He said he did not know if they had taken anything yet.

“This kind of came out of the blue for us,” he said. “As such, it’s not something we find worrisome or troubling.

“We’re not hiding anything,” he said. “Since the outset of this, we’ve been co-operating with any and all agencies that have asked us for information.”

The raid comes two years and a day after a global emissions scandal involving several Volkswagen models erupted.

In September 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it had evidence that millions of Volkswagen vehicles were programmed to detect when emissions were being tested, and to alter their engine function to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions during the test. In some cases, the regular emission rate was 40 times higher than in test mode.