The thieves are looking for precious metals found in catalysts - palladium, platinum and rhodium. These are more expensive than gold, a couple of them several times more expensive.

Until mid-August, the police in the southern region have received 440 reports of thefts of catalysts, most of them in southern Skåne and in Malmö's police area.

- If we look specifically at Malmö, we go from a few for the whole of last year, to now in August have 190 pieces, says Nils Norling.

Caught in the act

In recent days alone, the police have caught several thieves in the act. Witnesses alerted the police at night to parking lots in Trelleborg and at Ellstorp in Malmö. The thieves could be apprehended with catalysts and tools used in the thefts.

Police statistics show that some car brands are particularly attractive to thieves. The car model Toyota Prius stands out as extra prone to theft.

The police in Lund say that a car owner has been hit three times by catalyst thieves.

- A catalyst can cost between 10,000 and 20,000 kronor, says Ljubos Veselihovic, who has a car workshop in Malmö. Photo: Per Lärka

Difficult to get used

Ljubos Veselihovic has a car workshop in Malmö and has helped three people in the last month who have had their catalysts stolen.

- A catalyst can cost between 10,000 and 20,000 kronor. It is very difficult to get a used one, says Ljubos Veselihovic.

He now collaborates with a company that offers marking of the car part. Information about, among other things, the car's registration number is etched in and can be read with UV light.

Stopped in the harbor

- Our suspicion is that the absolute largest amount is taken abroad, to then be dismantled and extracted from the precious metals, says Nils Norling.

Earlier this year, a man was charged with receiving after he was arrested in the port of Trelleborg with bags containing 27 particle filters, which are used for diesel cars and contain the same precious metals as catalysts.

The man claimed that he had been commissioned to drive the car to Romania and said that he did not know who put the bags in the car. Despite the fact that the district court in Ystad considered that it was about stolen goods, the man was acquitted.