File picture of cars recovered by police

Aug. 29: The recovery rate of stolen cars by city police during the past 10 years stands at a pitiable 7.82 per cent.

Of the 7,053 vehicles stolen from the city from 2001 to April 2011, only 552 have been recovered.

“Once a vehicle is stolen, it is not easy to get it back as the car thieves normally send it to other parts of the state or nearby states adopting various modus operandi. Because of this, the recovery percentage has been very poor,” a police source said.

Altogether 1,592 people have been arrested in connection with vehicle thefts from 2001.

The number of arrested persons is almost three times the number of vehicles recovered.

While 1,637 theft cases are pending in the city alone, the number of pending cases is 2803 in the state.

The modus operandi adopted by gangs include obtaining fake driving licences and getting employed as drivers before sneaking out. Some of them also hire cars and kill the driver, lift cars using duplicate keys and various tools and equipment.

During the period, the highest number of car thefts in the city took place in the year 2007 (1,171), while the number of theft cases in the three years that followed are 1,148 (in 2008), 713 (in 2009) and 966 (in 2010).

Altogether 306 vehicles have been stolen in the first quarter of 2011.

The number of thefts is a clear pointer to the city being a hotbed for vehicle lifters. The theft figures are also high in Jorhat, Sivasagar, Tinsukia, Barpeta, Nalbari and Dibrugarh districts.

The state reported an average of 2,000 vehicle theft cases in the past three years.

From 2009 to April 2011, Sivasagar reported 252 cases followed by Nagaon (218), Dibrugarh (179), Jorhat (174), Tinsukia (153) while Barpeta recorded 119 vehicle theft cases.

However, the state Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) will incorporate an advanced system to detect and identify erased numbers of stolen vehicles, even after being tampered with by vehicle thieves, which will assist the police and investigators dealing with vehicle-lifting rackets active in the state and the region.

The FSL will procure an advanced magnetic optical reader, which will assist them in detecting the original engine and chassis number of a car or two-wheeler, engraved on non-metallic material.

“We already have a magnetic optical reader using which we can detect the original number of vehicle on metals but it becomes difficult for us to detect if the numbers are embossed on non-metallic material. So we will bring in an advanced erased number identification system,” said an official of the laboratory.