It is a serious cause for concern. While vehicles are disappearing from the city’s roads at an alarming speed, the recovery rate is a pitiable five per cent for two-wheelers and 40 per cent for four-wheelers.

According to a senior officer of the detective department, in the past two years, nearly 2,000 vehicles have been stolen, mostly from the Beniapukur, New Market, Park Street, Shakespeare Sarani and Tollygunge areas. “Car-lifting gangs are extremely active in these areas and most vehicles are stolen because of the casual approach of the owners or the drivers,” the officer said.

But where do these stolen vehicles go? The common belief is that most of the two-wheelers are smuggled out to neighbouring Bangladesh, while the four-wheelers are driven up north to Siliguri, through Bihar and Muzaffarpur, and then head for the Northeast.

“I admit that the recovery rate is poor, but I am sure that the vehicles are not sold in the local market,” the officer said. “We have recovered most of the vehicles from pockets close to the border with Bangladesh — Swarupnagar, Bongaon, Basirhat and Barasat,” he added.

“Recently, we arrested a few Bangladeshis involved in the racket. They confessed that to get the vehicles over, they have to tip the men in uniform manning the border. They don’t make much of a loss, either. Each vehicle fetches Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 in Bangladesh,” the officer added.

With four-wheelers, the trend now is to steal the expensive models, like Boleros, Scorpios and Tata Sierras. “These cars fetch a good price as, according to our intelligence reports, terrorists in the Northeast prefer them. The rest land up either in Bihar or Jharkhand,” the officer said.

The detective department also suspects the involvement of a gang that buys the vehicles in a hire-and-purchase scheme offered by car companies, where only a nominal amount is to be paid for owning the vehicle. The gang then sells it off on the other side.

According to Soumen Mitra, deputy commissioner of police (detective department), motor theft can be prevented if both the manufacturing companies and the vehicle-owners are more alert and informed.

“Car companies have to come up with newer and better security systems, like locks and alarms, while the owners will have to shed their casual approach to the safety of their vehicles. Only this will restrict theft of vehicles,” Mitra said.