BKK Post / May 13, 1998  

CRIME  
Car thieves on the hunt for Hondas 
Civics, Accords top list of stolen autos  

Wassayos Ngarmkham  
   Car thieves are hunting for Honda cars to meet purchase 
orders from Laos and Cambodia, police warned yesterday.
   Pol Maj-Gen Pitaya Charoenpanit, an assistant 
Metropolitan Police commissioner who heads an anti-car 
theft unit, said both Honda Civics and Accords topped the 
January-April list of cars stolen in Bangkok.
   "Sixty-one Honda cars were stolen in that period, 
amounting to 48.4% of all the cars reported stolen in 
Bangkok. All the stolen Hondas are the models with V-Tec 
engines," he said.
   According to Pol Maj-Gen Pitaya, Honda cars are now in 
great demand in Laos and Cambodia, and orders for them have 
already been sent to the leader of a Thai car-theft gang 
whom the police are trying to track down.
   Nissan came second, and Mitsubishi third. Police 
statistics showed 30 Nissans and 10 Mitsubishis were stolen 
during the same period.
   In addition, nine Mercedes Benzes, nine Toyotas, three 
BMWs, and one each of the Mazda, Volvo, Daihatsu and Ford 
families were among a total of 126 cars reported stolen in 
Bangkok from January to April.
   For pick-up trucks, Isuzu topped the list with 27 
reported stolen in Bangkok during the same period, followed 
by 20 Nissans, 10 Toyotas, seven Mitsubishis, two Fords and 
one Mazda.
   Seventeen four-wheel-drive vehicles were stolen over the 
same period.
   Out of a combined total of 210 cars, pick-up trucks and 
four-wheel-drive vehicles stolen during that period, only 
30 - or 14.2% - could be retrieved. This was because 
thieves did not need much time to smuggle stolen vehicles 
out of the country or to dismantle them for sale as spare 
parts, Pol Maj-Gen Pitaya said.
   Vehicles parked in public places and in front of houses 
are most prone to theft, according to the officer.