Large scale catalytic converter thief arrested

London has been plagued for the past year by a team of catalytic converter thieves who have been using a distinctive Black Nissan Qashqai. The thieves have been crossing multiple boroughs, and committing numerous offences per day. The thieves would change their cloned plates after each offence. Members of the public have shared videos on social media of a Nissan in the act. 

Response officers were called to attend an incident relating to catalytic converter theft in Northolt. Whilst running to the call, they spotted a Black Nissan Qashqai travelling the opposite way at speed amongst other members of the public. This was 2 miles from the incident location. On starting a three point turn, the Nissan swerved to the nearside and stopped. A front passenger decamped and ran off with the Nissan accelerating away. On getting behind the Nissan the driver stopped and tried to play it cool. 

A quick glance by the attending officers saw that the VIN number of the car did not match Police National Computer record for the number plate. The driver was initially arrested for theft of a Motor Vehicle. On searching the vehicle there were distinctive red gardening gloves, balaclavas, chargers for power tools, numerous other hand tools, a car jack and smashed glass within. Images from previous offences were compared with the vehicle and it was clearly a match. All the unique damage on the vehicle matched CCTV and videos of the previous incidents. The vehicle was on cloned plates and the driver fitted the description of one of the offenders. 

Over 20 exhibits relating to offences were recovered from the car. A system search revealed dozens of similar offences mentioning a Black Nissan Qashqai as the suspect vehicle over the past week. 

A successful arrest of a prolific offender thanks to quick thinking of the officers involved!