Keys gangs on rampage

It is believed one or more organised gangs are behind the burglaries which have seen valuable cars such as Porsches, Subaru Imprezas, BMWs and Audis go missing in 54 raids over the past six weeks.

In most cases the raiders are getting into homes by removing house windows or smashing them in completely. They then hunt down the car keys and drive off in the vehicle.

The cars are likely to be sold on with new number plates and vehicle identification numbers. They can also be stripped down to spare parts and shipped across the world to places like China and India.

Homeowners across Cheslyn Hay, Cannock, Wombourne, Codsall, Tipton, Wolverhampton and Lichfield, have been targeted.

The rise in this new style of car crime has been sparked by security improvements to modern motors which mean thieves now know their only way of getting away with the luxury vehicles is with the keys. Lower value cars are not safe either, police say, with the gangs using these as 'runarounds' to get them from crime to crime.

Dc Cliffe Hough, from Staffordshire's Chase Division said the number of car key burglaries had increased dramatically with only a handful previously expected in any normal six-month period. He said: "We believe it is one or more organised gangs who are responsible and they are doing several in a night. We are trying to make people aware and would urge people to take precautions. These include parking lower value cars in front of more valuable ones.

"The most important thing is that people contact their local police if they see any suspicious activity in their streets because we are finding people have seen people hanging around before the cars are stolen."

Dc Hough added: "The offenders are very reckless in their driving and there have been a number of police cars rammed."