On the night of January 18th, the Thérèse de Blainville police department, arrested two suspects in possession of Mitsubishi brand catalysts, which had obviously just been stolen.
Vigilance of the police
Take a look at the
featured Local Savings
at the bottom of this page!
It was around 2:00 a.m., during a patrol, the police noticed a Nissan vehicle that had just committed a traffic safety code violation in the Des Mille-Iles boulevard sector in Sainte-Thérèse. They therefore intercept the vehicle, driven by a woman, resident of Laval. She was then accompanied by a man residing in Montreal. The officers quickly noticed through the windows of the vehicle’s cabin that the two occupants were in possession of two catalysts, as well as burglary tools.
Arrests
The various findings of the police therefore make it possible to proceed to their arrest. They were questioned and will have to answer charges of theft, concealment and possession of burglary tools before the Court.
Wave of similar flights in the region
It is important to remember that the catalyst is a component of the vehicle exhaust system. For several weeks, there have been several thefts of this nature in the region.
The police asks the residents if they witness this type of theft or if they notice that someone seems to be slipping under a vehicle in their neighborhood, or in a commercial parking lot, to not hesitate to call 9-1-1.
A national problem
Ironically enough, it isn’t the catalytic converters themselves that are valuable, but the precious metals inside them that are. “It’s not a new issue…catalytic converters have been stolen for years,” says Bryan Gast, national director of investigative services at the Insurance Bureau of Canada. As the value of these precious metals has risen, so have the thefts with, intentions of being sold on the black market. These types of valuable metals include palladium, rhodium and platinum, which are “more valuable than gold right now,” according to Gast.
