Thieves go fishing for Mercedes

Car crime costs London more than £1 billion a year. Organised gangs behind the theft of expensive models are using increasingly sophisticated methods to steal cars and then make them appear legitimate, a detailed analysis by Scotland Yard has shown.

Police say the gangs are going to extraordinary lengths to obtain the keys since this is the only way of bypassing complex security systems now installed in all cars.

Thieves have staged bogus accidents, carried out "car-jackings", stolen vehicles either during test drives or from petrol station forecourts, or followed victims home to break into the driver's house for the keys.

Having tailed their victims home or spotted a desirable car in the driveway, the favourite method of obtaining keys is by "fishing" through letter boxes using nothing more sophisticated than a bamboo cane with a magnet attached to the end.

Criminal gangs are targeting topofthe-range cars such as Mercedes, Range Rover and Porsche, making vast profits from the illegal trade. Audi, Porsche, Mercedes, Volkswagen-and BMW make up 40 per cent of all the cars stolen in this way. Unlike more opportunistic car crime, the thieves only want high value vehicles which are given new identities and shipped abroad or sold through dealers and magazines.

Det Ch Insp Dave Ryan, of the Yard's Stolen Vehicle Unit, said: "It is difficult to give a precise figure on car crime but we are talking billions in terms of value.

"Due to immobiliser security devices being installed on all new cars, thieves might as well steal a BMW rather than a Mondeo, because the profit margin is so great."

On average 5,800 cars are stolen each month in London - about 70,000 a year. One third of all reported crime in the capital is car thefts or thefts from vehicles. As well as car thefts from homes, London has experienced a huge rise in the number of car dealers which have been burgled and the keys and cars stolen. In 1998, there were two incidents; in 1999 this rose to nine; in 2000 there were 24; but in the first six months of this year there were 43 break-ins where 180 cars were driven away.

The Audi franchise in Harold Wood, Essex, recently had eight cars valued at £25,000 each stolen in one raid. But the Met only invests a small amount of resources into tackling the problem, focusing instead on street crime.

Detectives have now compiled the first figures which show the full extent of the "key-style" thefts. From January to June this year the Met investigated 1,491 key thefts of cars in the capital. Burglaries and letter box thefts accounted for 550 vehicles taken by stealing the key - nearly a third of the total. Mr Ryan said: "We are really beginning to see a big growth in this type of car theft. We can only warn owners to look after their keys - don't give them to anyone you don't trust. The car may be worth £40,000 but so is the key."

Detective Constable Lorraine Pullen added: "The technology employed by the manufacturers has made cars harder to steal by opportunistic thieves but now we are seeing criminals specifically targeting homes and showrooms."

The thefts are often very simple but can also involve the use of violence. Some car salesmen have been pushed out of cars and threatened with guns; others have simply got out of the driver's seat only for the thief to move from the passenger seat to behind the wheel and speed off.

Older drivers of expensive cars have also been targeted during mock accidents. The target car is shunted from behind at traffic lights and the thief gets out and apologises profusely.

While the keys to the target car are still in the ignition and insurance details are being exchanged, a passenger in the offending car jumps into the empty driver's seat and drives away. The thief then offers to chase the person who drove off but does not return.

Police believe two gangs are targeting cars filling up with petrol at garages on the A4 and A12 in London. Drivers often leave their keys in the ignition while they pay as criminal gangs wait to move in.

The cars are then driven out of London to other cities where they are given a new identity. Often they are shipped abroad.

Previously, thieves would concentrate on cars in streets in wealthy inner city areas but now they are focusing on large homes in the suburbs because the car is parked in a driveway.

Detectives are also concerned the gangs may be close to gaining the technology to produce a key rather than steal it. Mr Ryan said: "These gangs are pretty sophisticated and the manufacturers need to be aware. Cars are 'rung' or 'cloned', which means they are given new identities and what appear to be legitimate documents from the DVLA.

"We know of people who have bought a brand new Porsche for £60,000 only to realise it is stolen and lose all the money. A lot of people could be driving around in stolen cars without realising it - it's big business."

This latest warning comes as it was revealed that tens of thousands of British motorists are unwittingly driving stolen top-of-the-range Japanese cars imported by gangs of criminals.

The scam, which is estimated to be worth billions of pounds, has resulted in Japanese insurance companies hiring bounty hunters to track down the cars and retrieve them.

The Toyota Landcruiser, Honda NSX and Lexus 400 are the most popular vehicles stolen from homes and showrooms in Japan and shipped to the UK.

Police believe it is a global operation which involves thieves shipping thousands more to other right-hand-drive countries like China, New Zealand and South Africa.

Customs and Excise estimates there could be as many as 165,000 stolen or grey imports - those with no previous history - while the DVLA puts the figure at approximately 36,000. Police say it is impossible to tell how many there are in Britain but advises owners who suspect they may have bought one to contact them.

How they make cars 'disappear'