City turns a happy hunting ground for vehicle thieves

Prateek Chauhan

New Delhi, January 11

In spite of high-tech policing in the city, security arrangements have failed to rein in professional car lifters. Let it be any posh colony of South Delhi or New Delhi area, the thieves within a flick of eye, get away with hi-end cars like Mercedes, Audi and BMW. Situation is such that every month, as many as 3,190 vehicles are stolen, according to Delhi Police.

According to the 2016 data available with the police, thieves have stolen 35,099 vehicles from Delhi within 11 months and sold them in western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.

If the past 15-year data is to be believed, vehicle theft incidents have increased fivefold. In 2001 in Delhi, 7894 reports of vehicle thefts were recorded which by November 30, 2016, reached 35,099.

The only change is that the gangs’ target now has turned to steal Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Honda City, Scorpio, Swift, Innova cars. Companies like BMW, Audi and Mercedes even have upgraded the lock system and gave new features, but the thieves have found a way out to break the locks.

It is to be noted that thieves are adopting Majestic Data Reader. After doing a recce for a few days, the thieves put the Data Reader on car door lock. The reader takes the lock system data and then it becomes easy to make a duplicate key and steal the vehicle. Some of the thieves break the security check through Majestic Data Reader and through laptop within a few minutes make the duplicate key and enter inside the car and deactivate the GPS system. After which it is difficult to catch them.

As spare parts of luxury cars are very costly, car thieves get a good cost in the market, according to a senior police officer.