A video of two men allegedly stealing a catalytic converter in Metro Vancouver in broad daylight has sparked outrage on social media.
The footage shows a man ducking underneath a truck with a catalytic converter and a saw and then running toward a vehicle. When he approaches the vehicle, another individual, the driver, takes a couple of steps toward the person filming the video. The pair flee the scene once the passenger shuts his door.
The theft victim is a Surrey resident named Megan (last name withheld for safety). Megan's family owns a fleet of trucks and says this isn't the first time thieves have stolen a catalytic converter from them — but this time was different. The thieves cut out the valuable device from underneath her truck in broad daylight, right in the driveway of her home.
Megan, who lives in the Guilford area, says she was standing in her living room where a large window overlooks the road while her children were at the table. From there, she spotted a black car coming down the road slowly. She noted that both of the men inside were wearing masks and sunglasses, which seemed odd.
"These people knew I was home," she tells Vancouver Is Awesome. "This is a residential area."
When she headed out onto her patio, Megan saw a shadow coming toward her driveway. While she couldn't see him at first, she heard someone sawing and "knew exactly what they were doing." Her immediate reaction was to yell, but she thought they didn't hear her and so she ran toward the truck.
"My goal was not to get close at all," she explains. "My goal is to yell really loud, have my phone out, and have them get scared off and leave my converter alone."
The man had already finished sawing off the device by the time she got to the back of the truck, however. "So it took less than 30 seconds," she notes.
For Megan, the scariest part was the driver of the car. She says her hand starts to shake as she recalls him getting out of the car and heading toward her in an aggressive manner. At that moment, she questioned if she should be there.
"His body language was absolutely terrifying," she recalls, adding that he also yelled, "something to the extent of, 'Get the [expletive] away from my [expletive] car."
Have a look at the video of the incident.
Surrey RCMP comment on rise of catalytic converter thefts
Catalytic converters, which help reduce pollution from a vehicle’s exhaust system, are sought after by thieves and unscrupulous scrap metal dealers because of precious metals in their components.
Replacing one can cost more than $1,000. In 2020, ICBC had 2,154 reports of “cat theft,” costing the insurer more than $2 million in claims.
Surrey RCMP Sgt. Elenore Sturko says there has been a spike in thefts of the devices in Surrey and other parts of the Lower Mainland.
Recently, strategic enforcement officers noted several catalytic converters inside a vehicle that they pulled over. While attempting to prove ownership of the catalytic converters via cell phone pictures, the driver allegedly showed officers images of the vehicle parts being stolen. He was arrested for possession of stolen property.
"We see increases in the theft of catalytic converters when there are increases in the values in the precious metals in them," Sturko tells V.I.A.
The Surrey RCMP cannot provide details on the Guilford incident because it is under investigation, she adds.
Megan says she hopes that the City of Surrey can do more to deter thieves from targeting catalytic converters, such as implementing a bylaw against purchasing used ones.
"You can't drive [the car]. There are families losing work over this," she underscores. "It's not an easy thing to just pop back in and call it a day; you need a mechanic.
The thieves "know that even if they do get caught the consequences are way less than the opportunity."
With files from Brent Richter.
