The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station has recovered 250 catalytic converters amounting to an estimated worth of $750,000. Together with the auto components, the investigation resulted in 19 arrests and the restoration of $100,000 and a gun whose serial numbers had been filed off.

Responding to excessive reviews of catalytic converter thefts, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station Crime Affect Staff led this search warrant operation on Wednesday, March 10. The operation lined 4 totally different places, largely in the city of Los Angeles.

The Sheriff’s division reviews that catalytic converter thefts have risen greater than 400% all through Los Angeles County. In the meantime, AAA not too long ago advised the Los Angeles Times that catalytic converter thefts have been up greater than 90% throughout California in 2020.

Many sources report that thefts are up nationwide during the pandemic, with some reasoning that extra motionless vehicles and monetary difficulties are resulting in extra motive and alternative. Certainly, catalytic converter thefts aren’t simply rising within the US, however in Canada, too.

Learn Extra: Catalytic Converter Are Worth Their Weight In Gold And Canadian Thieves Have Noticed

Catalytic converters are moderately easy to steal and price some huge cash. They work due to a mix of extremely precious valuable metals, together with platinum, palladium, and rhodium, which makes their scrap value high. In lots of instances, like SUVs and vans, thieves can slide beneath autos and take away the converter without having to even raise it, making the theft comparatively simple.

Furthermore, some restore retailers have grow to be targets for thieves. One store in Milwaukee needed to go as far as to deflate the vehicles in its lot’s tires to make sliding beneath them tougher.

Should you’re frightened about your catalytic converter, police advocate parking in a well-lit space, welding the bracket bolts, and engraving your license plate quantity onto your converter to make restoration simpler, ought to that be obligatory.