1990s was a period of the peak of car theft in Poland. In 1998 the police was notified of 80,500 such cases, however in 2011 only 16,300 cars were stolen. Why is that? The fact is that nowadays not entire cars are stolen but only their most expensive parts, in which case serial numbers are not recorded anywhere. It means they may be sold easily on secondary market and some components can be a really profitable business. Such is the case with catalytic converters. Catalytic converters are sold not only on the secondary market but also as valuable scrap.
How do catalytic converters disappear?
Police have recorded an increasing number of theft from parked vehicles. A thief, equipped with appropriate power tools, crawls under the car and in a couple of minutes leaves with a valuable part. Many cars are imported from abroad, but frequently before the cars are supplied to clients in Poland they are deprived of different parts, such as catalytic converters.
