The theft of old vehicles for used spare parts continues to have serious dimensions in the Paphos district, with police receiving complaints about stolen cars, including wrecks, authorities said.
The phenomenon is explained by the surge in the old car market amongst people whose vehicles frequently need spare parts of any condition and quality, authorities said.
Two vehicles were stolen the same night recently in a central Paphos area, despite the existence of many closed-circuit cameras in the neighbourhood, according to complaints made to police.
In another case, an owner who left his car parked for months in an open space in Paphos found it literally halved when he went to collect it. Unknown perpetrators disassembled it and took most parts, apparently to sell or reuse them.
The cases are not unrelated to recent complaints that thefts and vandalism of cars in Paphos are linked to the phenomenon of many old vehicles on roads being bought, according to relevant sources.
Increasingly more relevant bodies and spare parts professionals are pointing out that the very many old cars in Paphos have created a need for cheap spare parts.
These spare parts don’t suffice in the market due to the many damaged wreck cars continuously present, whilst genuine spare parts are clearly more expensive than used-stolen ones, they said.
The stolen parts easily find buyers amongst owners of such vehicles who cannot afford to spend much money on repairs or maintenance, they added. This is the reason they have an old car in their possession, they said.
They are calling on the Paphos Police Directorate to increase night patrols mainly in neighbourhoods to tackle the increasingly bulging antisocial phenomenon.