First copper and now............A crime we have to muffle
Catalytic converters stolen, sold as scrap for their platinum
By NELSON WYATT The Canadian Press
Mon. Jan 21 - 6:13 AM
Gord Nelson holds up a catalytic converter at the Nelson Garage in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz / CP)
MONTREAL — Some Quebec thieves are seeing green in vehicle catalytic converters — and it’s not because the emission control devices are good for the environment.
Police are investigating a rash of converter thefts where robbers seem to be targeting the devices for their platinum content in the wake of skyrocketing prices for the precious metal often found in expensive jewelry.
The ripoffs are a phenomenon that has been seen elsewhere, including Europe and the United States, where news reports described the thefts as an "epidemic.
Police in Laval, north of Montreal, took note after ambitious Christmas robbers hit a fleet of Via Route rental trucks at one of the franchise’s outlets sometime overnight on Dec. 25-26.
"It’s because of the powder, said Denise Lafond, assistant manager of the franchise, referring to the platinum used as a catalyst in the converters as the motive for the robbery.
"It’s more expensive than gold. An ounce of that powder goes for $1,500.
The robbers scaled the locked fence around the franchise’s parking lot to get their swag.
"They took the catalytic converters off 13 trucks, said Lafond. "We’ve replaced them. What can you do? You don’t have a choice.
The devices chemically convert some pollutants in exhaust gases, such as carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, and oxides of nitrogen, into harmless compounds.
Replacing them didn’t come cheap.
"It cost $25,000, she said.
A new converter can go for around $600. The amount of platinum used in them is tiny and usually described as a mere trace.
Gord Nelson, owner of the Nelson Garage in west-end Montreal, was another victim. He had a used Volvo sitting outside his garage with for sale signs on it and found when he came in one morning the converter was gone.
"They literally cut it off using a torch, he said. "We know that by looking. We started the car and obviously there was a heck of a noise. We brought the car in to check the exhaust on it and it was obvious that it was cut with a torch.
Montreal police said they were aware of the thefts but couldn’t provide any numbers. In Laval, police estimated that there have been between 10 and 15 such thefts in the first weeks of 2008 and around 25 in the last months of 2007.
One was nipped in the bud thanks to an alert citizen, said Const. Nathalie Lorrain.
"There was a lady looking into the parking lot and she saw a man walking around cars and for a few seconds, not even a minute, he would disappear, Lorrain said.
"What we know now is that when he disappeared from her sight he was going under a truck and taking this part off. When he was arrested he already had two in a bag and he was under another truck trying to take another one out.
Laval police say the man — a drug addict who stole to pay for his habit — has provided some leads. They will now be turning their attention to scrap yards where the parts might be sold.
Lorrain said the converter thefts are a new phenomenon, though it may have gone unnoticed in the past because crooks tended to steal an entire car and then strip it for parts rather than concentrating on just one item.
"It must be lucrative, she said.
Stealing converters is also easy. Thieves can saw or cut the bolts off a converter within minutes. Minivans and sport utility vehicles are favourite targets because their height makes it easy for robbers to slide under them.
"Robbers talk to each other and when they find that there’s something easy they all pass the word between themselves, Lorrain said. "It’s getting pretty popular.
Lorrain said scrap dealers should ask themselves a few questions should anyone show up with a pile of converters for sale.
"When you have somebody come wanting to sell you 100 of these car parts and they look new, you have to ask yourself questions. It’s not normal to be in possession of these things.
But it’s not that simple, said Len Shaw, the director of the Ontario-based Canadian Association of Recycling Industries. He said it’s not unusual for a catalytic converter to show up at a scrapyard.
"When you think of it, at the end of the life of properties like road signs, things like that — what happens to them? They end up in scrap yards so that they can get back into the economy, into the steel mills or the foundaries or whatnot, he said.
"What is an obvious, unusual thing to somebody is not for a scrap dealer. They see all these things.
’When you have somebody come wanting to sell you 100 of these car parts and they look new, you have to ask yourself questions.’
const. nathalie lorrainMontreal police