PANAJI:  The vehicle thefts have been rising since 2007 in Goa. In every 29 hours a vehicle is stolen in the state: it could a two-wheeler, a four-wheeler or a six-wheeler.

The Goa police figure shows that this year till November 10, 2009 around 267 vehicles have been stolen, which were parked in parking lots or at open spaces. 
The number of vehicles thefts rose from 207 in 2007 to 237 in 2008.  Till November 10, this year, around 267 vehicles have been stolen. Of these 267 stolen vehicles, 147 have been stolen in North Goa district while 119 in South Goa district.
Of  267 cases of vehicle thefts  only 47 have been detected -- 27 in North Goa district and 20 in South Goa district.
The police inspector, Mr Sandesh Chodankar said that some thieves are dexterous. They not only modify the stolen bikes and but change engine and chassis numbers so as to make it difficult to identify the stolen vehicles.
The police figures show that among the vehicles reported stolen this year, 193 were two-wheelers, 16 were four-wheelers and 13 were six-wheelers. Forty-five vehicles have not yet been catogorised.
Cracking down on vehicles thefts the city police had arrested some culprits and recovered the stolen vehicles, which were modified and dismantled. But some thieves could escape the arrest.
The vehicles thieves mostly steal like Dio, Kinetic Honda, Hero Honda, Splendor and Pulser.
A few years back when Mr Chodankar was in crime branch he had booked a DJ from Porvorim who had links with an inter-state gang involved in stealing and selling expensive cars from Mumbai to Goans. He had seized various cars of different make like Accord, Swift, Honda City, Scorpion, Chevrolet etc.