The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Vehicle thefts: lacuna in information sharing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 11, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Vehicle thefts: lacuna in information sharing

Police get little or no clues since most of the criminals lift vehicles after unlocking them with false keys, steel needles or thin screwdrivers, writes Marri Ramu

With little role to play in prevention of two-wheeler thefts, police are focussing more on detection. But the inadequate information sharing system among different agencies is turning out to be a stumbling block in the investigation.

On an average, five two-wheelers are stolen every day from the twin cities excluding those reported in Cyberabad.

The crime has become rampant going by the number and value of stolen vehicles.

Sleuths cannot zero in on a particular person based on the modus operandi in vehicle thefts.

They get little or no clues since most of the criminals lift vehicles after unlocking them with false keys, steel needles or thin screwdrivers.

No material or indirect offences is also available in such cases.

An apparent loophole in the system is that a stolen vehicle cannot reach its owner even if the thief abandons it.

For example, a motorcycle is stolen from Punjagutta junction in city and left in Medak district. The vehicle owner would register the case with Punjagutta police.

After issuing a First Information Report, local detectives would alert other city police stations and flash messages giving details of the vehicle's engine and chassis numbers.

A week later, every police station will send details of vehicles stolen and traced, if any, to the Hyderabad Detective Department.

Latest method

If details of the stolen and traced vehicle match, the case is solved.

But, the city DD gets details of only vehicles stolen and traced from city police stations and not from adjoining Cyberabad and Medak, Ranga Reddy, Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts. As a result, the vehicle traced in Medak would remain there forever.

The recent method adopted by criminals to dismantle vehicles and sell them in scrap has almost ruled out the possibility of tracing them.

"This is because many persons come between as the vehicle goes from thief to buyer of scrap," a police officer said. Neither police nor any other Government department has any control over buyers of scrap material.

So clever are offenders that in some cases they even change numbers of the chassis and the engine. "In three cases, we sent the engines, numbers of which were tampered by thieves, to forensic experts to find the original numbers but they gave up," investigators explained.

This weakens prosecution and the owner would never get back even the engine.

But what can be done in such cases? "Since prevention is easier than detection in vehicle theft cases, it would be better if people take all possible precautions," is what the police have to say.

Vehicles parked for long duration at a particular place without anyone around to keep a watch are the most vulnerable. Parking vehicles in front of houses too is turning out to be unsafe as vehicles kept in lanes and by-lanes had also been stolen.

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