Cat burglars: Lure of precious metals spurs epidemic of pollution device thefts.
A hungry market for precious metals has spurred a worldwide epidemic of thefts of catalytic converters — automotive pollution-control devices that contain such exotic elements as platinum, palladium and rhodium.
Easy to remove, easy to sell, the cigar-shaped converters are disappearing from vehicles in driveways, parking garages, even, in one 2012 case in Kansas, from cars in a church parking lot while their owners attended Palm Sunday services.
More often, however, thieves are hitting rental car storage yards and other secluded spots such as the back lot of Hawkesbury’s Performance Auto garage, where the theft of a converter from a pickup truck this month was the latest in a string of such events in the Eastern Ontario town, Ontario Provincial Police reported.
A single used “cat” will bring just $40 to $200 from a scrap dealer, but a quick-moving thief who hits several cars can still make a big score. One U.S, police website says it takes just three minutes with a wrench or cordless metal saw to remove a converter from below a vehicle, and “good thieves are even faster.”
Sport-utilities and pickups with high ground clearance are a favourite target. While vehicles are generally driveable after a theft, owners will know immediately because of the din of the open exhaust system.
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