It’s a crime that is becoming all too familiar in Regina with new victims popping up weekly.
Thieves are stealing catalytic converters from beneath their vehicles.
The price of replacement and repairs can be thousands of dollars per vehicle.
A catalytic converter turns car exhaust into less harmful substances. The insides are made up of precious metals and that is what the thieves are after.
Over the past five years, the value of these metals — platinum, palladium and rhodium, in particular — has risen significantly.
These thefts usually take place in the middle of the night and are only discovered when the victim starts their car the next day.
Steve Karch is the branch manager of Traction Heavy Duty Parts on Park street and he explained his recent ordeal.
“Back in early October we came in and my driver went to start one of the trucks and it sounded more noisy than normal. We took a look underneath and found the converter had been cut out of it”.
Karch said they were left without a truck that day until the catalytic converters could be replaced. A subsequent police report did not turn up any results.
However, Regina police did recently lay seven theft charges against two individuals who were caught with stolen converters.
The Regina Police Service says it has dealt with several reports of this specific crime in 2021. In a statement, police said they’re hopeful the recent charges may act as a deterrent to other would-be thieves.
— with files from Nick Logan
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