SURAT, May 26: On four consecutive days last week, vehicles, primarily motorcycles, were stolen from apartment parking lots; each day saw two or more thefts. On Sunday, a locked Maruti van simply disappeared from a Ring Road shopping complex. On Monday, a set of vehicle keys was recovered from a scooter parked near Samruddhi building at Makkai Pool, presumably abandoned after they failed to open locks of vehicles parked alongside.Today, after consistently denying the vehicle thefts involved organised crime, Deputy Commissioner of Police (traffic) N V Patel told Express Newsline, ``Yes, vehicles are being lifted on a daily basis. They are being routed out of the city and the State.''The official statement only confirmed what those in the trade already knew: the city's new-found affluence has made it a strategic point for inter-state vehicle thieves.Moreover, said a senior police official on condition of anonymity, ``a section of the police force is noticeably lethargic about the disappearance of vehicles''. According to the official, there had been numerous cases when the police had refused to register complaints about vehicle-thefts immediately. ``By the time a complaint is finally registered, the vehicle is somewhere in Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh.''That the problem is serious is apparent from the figures: 244 vehicle-thefts were registered in the city police stations in the first four months of the year. Admitted DCP Patel, ``The number could be even higher, as not many people bother to lodge complaints.'' Or are discouraged from doing so.Whatever the case, few victims bother to claim vehicles recovered from thieves. This is evident from the lines of vehicles rotting in the precincts of almost every police station, traffic yard and DCB and PCB branches.According to sources, the recent spate of vehicle thefts employed the same modus operandi. All the vehicles were picked up primarily from the Salabatpura and Mahidharpura areas, where hundreds of vehicles are parked during the course of a normal business day, and someone unlocking a car after several tries would never come under suspicion.According to the reader branch police, who maintain a record of the crimes in the city and monitor the investigations, most of the stolen vehicles are two-wheelers, mainly motorcycles. Cars and rickshaws also figure in the list of stolen vehicles.The detection rate in these crimes is surprisingly low, chiefly because the vehicle does not remain in the city for long. ``Only when we lay our hands on a vehicle thief are we able to crack a dozen cases or so'', said Patel.While police officials agree that they need to be more vigilant in controlling vehicle thefts, they urge people to lock vehicles more securely and if necessary even use chain locks. Said Patel, ``The people must contact the control room as soon as a vehicle is stolen so that we can effectively arrest the guilty.''
