The increasing sophistication of vehicle theft syndicates have resulted in thefts of high-value vehicles that can occur in two to five minutes, New Straits Times has reported.
Vehicle theft syndicates were increasingly targeting vehicles with high market demand, said PDRM federal criminal investigation department director Datuk M. Kumar. These syndicates have been known to use rental vehicles and specialist electronic equipment in order to bypass vehicle security systems, he said.
“Among these are devices capable of programming or generating vehicle keys depending on the model and its security features. This shows that theft methods are evolving alongside technology,” the department director said.
The destination of the vehicles stolen depends on the type of vehicle, and the syndicate’s objective, he said. Some, such as motorcycles and lorries, are taken to illegal workshops to be dismantled for parts, while three main patterns have been identified for the theft of cars.
Cars will be modified, including having their identities altered, dismantled for parts, and are also smuggled out of Malaysia, including to Thailand, Kumar said.
The PDRM federal criminal investigation department director said that vehicle owners should not rely solely on factory-fitted security systems, and should instead adopt multiple safeguards against vehicle theft.
These include ensuring that vehicles are always locked and never left unattended with the engine running, and to ensure that keys are kept securely, and use tracking and notification features where available, he said.
Overall, vehicle theft in Malaysia has shown a downward trend, dropping 11.3% from 14,201 cases in 2024 to 12,599 cases in 2025, according to New Straits Times.
more outdated daihatsu rebadge cars means easier for thieves to steal. Bersyukurlah untuk Miti dan Johari
2 minutes? All this while I thought Gone In 60 Seconds.
Have you ever try Mr.Bean pad lock.and steering dismantling antiques?
As this is a scary development, can Paul Tan do an article on how to overcome the thieves modus operandi?
thieves would then also make their own video about how to overcome paultan protection modus operandi.
It has been like that since day one. Regardless of what type of car or lock u got, there will always be a way around it. Keyless cars are much easier than those with analog key. All u need to do is to mimic the key electronically. Its easier coz the key always transmit.
Manual key is a bit slower to get pass and riskier compared to keyless but not by much.
What i see is that its difficult to stop thief from getting into your car so one must focus on preventing them from driving away.
Why so easy for our Hilux etc to be dismantled n shipped across our borders to Thailand?
Have u heard of busloads of masat girls crossing from Southern Thailand to KL ?
Why the MAS pilot can smuggle dadah to East Msia and Indonesia?
Now,seems ammonia something meant for farmers are “”reportedly”’ smuggled to southern Thai for extremists to bomb innocent people.
Question : Are our borders porous,or rock solid like Australia or Singapore.You know the answer.
I dont see any proton car keys there…must be a difficult car to steal…kudos proton!
Meanwhile politicians especially menteris can steal forever….and still being voted by their own victims one after another terms!
No need for thief to steal using electronic this and that. Just hop into a car with engine running with no driver in sight and drive away. Motorists still lazy to switch off engine, lock vehicle. They prefer instant parking and hot roti canai and nasi lemak.
Agreed…those drivers deserve their vehicles to be stolen. Most of the time they did that because to them its only for a short period and others should tolerate them.
This action is nonsense. Some of them even left their child in the vehicle.