It's a steal - for the thief

January is a special time for drivers. It's the month when thousands snap out of post-Christmas blues, and have their lives brightened up by driving a new car off the local forecourt.

To have someone steal your second most significant lifetime purchase would be devastating and costly. To meet them rifling through your front room, or worse, your bedside locker, in a search for the keys to your new car is unthinkable. But it is, unfortunately, an increasingly common occurrence.

Advances in car security mean that gardaí are now up against more ingenious car thieves who are prepared to double as burglars, in pursuit of their trade.

The head of the Garda's Stolen Motor Vehicle Unit, Det Insp Finbar Garland, says the past year has seen yet another increase in "thefts using keys after break-ins to houses or thefts from garage forecourts". Fishing rods shoved through letter boxes are also being used to pinch keys off hall tables, despite numerous warnings to motorists to find a safer place to hide them.

Thieves are also increasingly "stealing at source" from forecourts - they are guaranteed a choice of clean, new and highly-saleable vehicles.

"Keys are being grabbed while nobody is looking, and it could be a number of hours before a car is noticed missing from the garage," notes Garland. A well-known Dublin dealership was recently relieved of a luxury Chrysler Crossfire sports car by thieves who drove it off the forecourt using a set of stolen keys.

"We have also had cases of people buying petrol who leave the keys in the car which is taken. This has happened on numerous occasions. It has also happened to van drivers delivering to shops."

These are opportunist thieves, says Garland, who blames the new spate of key thefts on the difficulty of breaking into and taking newer cars: "Nothing is impossible, but it's a rare occasion that a car is stolen without a key."

Garland says there are ways of taking a car which has been fitted with an alarm and immobiliser, without having the key. "It would take about 15 to 20 minutes and not something you could do in a car-park. It requires specialist knowledge and is something we have not seen here yet."

Even still, the days of smashing a window and "hot wiring" a car are not gone, but are now confined to older models, Garland says.

The good news for owners of older models is, however, that "nine out of 10 are recovered". You are less likely to find a car thief in your living room demanding your keys. "Newer models are less likely to be found. They are exported, or broken for parts. They are easily saleable and often stolen to order," Garland believes.

Between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles are stolen in the State every year, and about 3,000 are never seen again. These are usually newer models, which are exported in containers to be sold by criminal gangs abroad.

The number of thefts has remained constant, but not without a number of Garda successes over the last year. In the first three months of 2004, it was discovered that 40 cars which had disappeared in the Republic had turned up in Britain, having been shipped from Northern Ireland.

Dublin criminals broke into houses, in search of keys and took cars from driveways. The cars were then taken to the North by other criminals with contacts north of the Border, where the cars were re-registered and shipped to Britain. Garland says a loophole which allowed this to happen has now been closed. He said 20 cars had already been returned to their owners, and 12 people had been convicted here, in the North and in Britain.

In February, gardaí scored a major success when they broke up a major international crime gang operating in Co Kildare. It is believed the gang had stolen and exported up to €3 million worth of high-powered luxury sports cars and motorbikes from the State in eight months.

The gang was dismantling stolen vehicles and packing them into 40ft containers, which were then exported through Dublin Port. The vehicles were being driven across the Continent into eastern Europe, where they were being sold for parts.

A Lebanese man is due in court later this month in relation to the Kildare operation.

The fight against car crime is changing rapidly, as thieves are adapting to tougher security devices. In the North, police have entered into a partnership with a private car tracking firm in an effort to cut organised vehicle theft. The agreement with Tracker UK enables vehicles, which have been fitted with tracking devices, to be located by police through a network of hi-tech equipment installed in PSNI vehicles.

In a recent joint operation between the PSNI, the Garda and Tracker UK, a stolen vehicle was tracked through Northern Ireland to a storage yard in the Republic, where a range of stolen items - including cattle trailers, generators, motor cycles, quads, plant and equipment - was found.

Gardaí are understood to be considering installing the tracking system in their vehicles. Garland says that numerous private companies with tracking systems are already offering services in the Republic with great success. "Sometimes owners are getting to their vehicles before we do," he adds.

A man was stabbed to death earlier this month when he confronted a suspected intruder at his west London home. Robert Symons (45) was woken up at 4.30 a.m. by his letterbox rattling in his Chiswick house. Police believe a man was trying to steal a set of car keys through the letterbox.

When Symons opened the front door to confront the suspected burglar, he was stabbed and bled to death. The incident followed a spate of cars thefts by the letterbox method in the Ealing area of London this year, police said.

Fishing rods through letter boxes are also being used to pinch keys off hall tables, despite warnings to motorists to find a safer place to hide them