Car robbers thriving: 8195 cases in 2004

NEW DELHI: Hollywood film Gone in 60 Seconds may well be the inspiration that drives the city''s car robbers.
Practitioners of the "art" seem to be thriving with Delhi''s vehicular theft graph recording 8,195 cases till December 12, 2004, up from last year''s total of 6,787.
Only 1,895 vehicle theft cases registered this year have been worked out. Trends indicate that "safe places" to hide stolen vehicles could be the thief''s neighbourhood, but most likely it is a parking lot.
According to the police, the Metro stations are increasingly being used by vehicle thieves.
The cars are, in fact, shown to "receivers" who are then allowed to drive away after striking a deal. Why Metro stations? "The parking lots there are secure," explained a source. Their relative desertion may well be a decisive factor.
South Delhi, especially Malviya Nagar and Lajpat Nagar, as well as southwest and northwest Delhi are particularly prone to vehicle thefts, said the police.
Northwest Delhi sees a large number of two-wheeler thefts.
Inadequate parking space and an abundance of vehicles per family make these areas soft targets.
"The Maruti 800 is the most stolen car due to easy disposability. If nothing else, a stolen Maruti can have it parts sold to shop owners in wholesale spare part markets," said a senior police officer.
Mid-segment small cars like the Hyundai Santro and luxury cars are stolen based on "demand".
The prime markets for stolen cars are in the Northeastern states, Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Nepal.
"Difficulty in detection of stolen vehicles in far-off places and connivance of transport authority officials to make fake registration papers makes it easier for Delhi''s thieves. In many cases transport officials of Northeastern states have been caught," added the police officer.
Only recently, the police caught an infamous car thief who was involved in about 2000 car theft cases. He simply opened a car by removing the beading.
He would unlock the boot of the car and then pop its lock with just his finger to use it to make a duplicate key and then drive off. All this in about half a minute.
Once the police had also nailed parking lot attendants who were supplying impressions of the keys of target vehicles to their accomplices.
The police officials also revealed that car thieves in the city extensively surveyed an area to identify their targets and then strike.