Police have seized a stash of catalytic converters believed to have been cut from cars in the Black Country – and launched an investigation to track down the metal thieves.
Our officers found 15 exhaust parts in the boot of a vehicle found parked on a street in the Merridale area of Wolverhampton yesterday morning (3 Nov).
It’s suspected the car has been used to commit offences across the city after at least eight converter thefts were recorded from Monday night into Tuesday.
Police have carrying out CCTV enquiries in a bid to establish the car’s movements and identify suspects.
PC Adam Davenport from the Wolverhampton Police Taskforce, said: “This is a significant recovery. We believe people linked to the car have committed dozens of cat converter thefts in recent weeks and we’re following up several lines of enquiry.
“We appreciate that catalytic converter thefts are a real pain for motorists: they cause lots of inconvenience and are also expensive to replace.
“We’re targeting groups who we suspect are behind a large number of these thefts and hope to bring more good news soon.”
There has been a sharp rise nationally in the number of catalytic converter thefts which has been fuelled by the increase in value of their precious metals.
We are working with police forces across the UK as part of a national metal theft task force tackling these crimes.
It’s best to speak to your vehicle manufacturer about the best way to try and prevent catalytic converter thefts.
One option is to consider fitting a protection device made specifically to cover the catalytic converter in the exhaust.
We’d also advise marking your catalytic converter with a unique security coding product and display the warning stickers supplied by such providers.