KUALA LUMPUR: While car thieves would steal almost any car they set their minds on, there are certain makes and models that are their preferred choice for more lucrative returns.
theSun learnt that the top five vehicles that are eyed by local car thieves are Toyota’s Hilux pick-up truck, its two luxury MPVs – the Vellfire and Alphard – and Honda’s SUVs, the CRV and HRV.
The five models are targeted by car thieves as they are in high demand, especially from overseas-based stolen car syndicates.
The payoffs for the five models are also several folds higher for the thieves when they hand them over to local stolen car syndicates.
Compared with a measly RM2,000 or less that car thieves are paid by syndicates for stealing locally manufactured vehicles or other models, these five models can earn them between RM6,000 and RM10,000 each.
However, the good news is there has been a steep decline in vehicle thefts since 2015. This is due to intensified police operations and the invoking of preventive laws such as the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) 1959, which have put away a large number of car thieves.
With most car thieves in detention, car theft cases plunged from 12,049 in 2015 to 2,858 last year.
For the same five-year period, motorcycle theft cases dropped by more than 72% from 38,565 to 10,815 while the theft of heavy vehicles such as lorries dipped close to 81% from 3,395 to 651.
theSun recently spoke to the federal police CID intelligence and operations division head, principal assistant director SAC Alzafny Ahmad, who agreed that the most effective “weapon” attributed to the sharp decline in car thefts over the past five years was invoking Poca.
“Most of the vehicle thieves, be it cars, lorries or motorcycles, are currently in detention under Poca. In 2014, 17 suspects were held and by the end of last year, we had put away 1,037 of them.
“Gradually, cases of car thefts began declining sharply with the growing number of these detentions.
“These suspects were held based on accurate intelligence reports gathered by our investigators. However, due to a lack of eye witnesses and the daunting task of obtaining physical or forensics evidence, these suspects escape prosecution in a court of law.”
Alzafny said in the absence of preventive laws such as Poca, car thieves would have been freed due to insufficient evidence.
“When released, they would have almost certainly returned to their old ways of stealing vehicles.
“It is not unusual to have a car thief who is out on bail being caught again for the same crime.”
Asked about the top car models sought by car theft syndicates, Alzafny declined to reveal details but said police viewed every reported case of a stolen vehicle seriously regardless of its value or manufacturer.
Under provisions in Poca, a suspected criminal can be initially detained for up to 60 days and subsequently for up to two years without trial.
The law also allows extended detention beyond the two years.
Stolen Malaysian cars have made their way to the Middle East and African countries after being smuggled out in containers via sea while cross-border smuggling via Thailand take the vehicles to other Asian countries.
