Car theft has always been with us - ever since the car was invented. There has been an evolution in recent times, from joy riding - when the car was simply abandoned at the end of the escapade - to " steal for profit " - where the car was taken to a disused warehouse, stripped of it's identification, be-birthed with false ID - and sold to an unsuspecting buyer.
The new form of car theft involves hi-jacking - where the owner driver is confronted by an armed bandit who demands the keys and disabling remote - and drives off with his prize.
Hi-jacking usually only applies to the cream of the crop - cars with a price tag of around a hundred thousand dollars. Because of this value they are almost impossible to steal in the conventional way because the manufacturer has built-in sophisticated anti-theft devices.
The hi-jack gangs are well organised and the stolen vehicles are usually driven into a shipping container, identified by paperwork describing the contents as "used machinery " - and shipped overseas to countries who have little interest in previous ownership.
This type of theft presents danger to the victim. The perpetrators are people who will not hesitate to resort to physical violence and this type of crime is becoming a huge disincentive for the rich to buy a seriously up-market car.
It will only cease when port authorities implement cargo checks on every container leaving our shores - and thus choke off the opportunity for the bandit to profit from his enterprise.
There is no profit from trying to sell such up-market vehicles here in Australia. Cars of high value are impossible to disguise for re-entry onto the local market due to " mini-dots " sprayed on component parts - hence when the profit motive fades away - so does the incentive to hi-jack cars !
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