IT can take as little as three minutes for thieves to steal a catalytic converter gardaí in Clare have warned. Gardaí are urging motorists are to take steps to secure the devices following a spate of converter thefts recently. The equipment is coveted by thieves due to their high scrap metal value.
Gardaí in Clare are investigating a number of catalytic converter thefts over the Christmas holidays, many of which occurred in the early hours. On Wednesday, December 23 at 1am a man was woken by noise outside his house in Aughanteeroe. He saw two males who left in a red car and he later found that the catalytic convertor had been stolen.
On Thursday, December 31 at 1.35am a man was also awoken to noise outside his house on St Joseph’s Road, Ballyvaughan. He saw three or four males outside who they left in the direction of Lisdoonvarna and again the catalytic convertor had been removed from his car.
Between 12 midnight on Tuesday, December 29 and 12pm on Thursday, December 31 the catalytic converter was stolen from a car parked in the Old Forge in Tulla. In another incident, a converter was taken off a car parked at the side of a house in the Oak Park estate between 1pm on New Year’s Eve and 1pm on Saturday, January 2.
And at 1.30am in the early hours of Sunday morning January 3 a resident of a house in the Glenina estate on the Gort Road was awoken by noise outside his house. He saw two males leaving in what he thought to be a dark Audi after taking the catalytic converter from his car.
Clare Crime Prevention Officer Triona Brooks outlines, “It can take as little as three minutes to remove the convertor. They are stolen because of the increasing prices in the scrap metal market; platinum, rhodium, palladium and other precious metals they employ to clean exhaust emissions.”
She advises car owners to property mark their catalytic converter alongside welding the bolts shut to deter a thief various garages.
She concludes, “Park your car as close to the wall of your house / driveway as you can making access under vehicles harder and ensure that there is good security lighting where you park.”