DOJ Tackles $545 Million Catalytic Converter Theft Ring

• The US Department of Justice has tackled a massive, national catalytic converter theft ring with over 20 arrests.
  

• This crackdown on catalytic converter theft spans from the street level to the processing level, and could have implications nationally.

• Catalytic converter theft is up hundreds of percent over the last few years.

The catalytic converter is a marvel of modern engineering. Take an internal combustion engine’s exhaust fumes and force them through an tube stuffed with precious metals that react to the gases: That’s your cat. The problem, as it turns out, is that those precious metals inside your catalytic converter are actually precious metals, which means they are a major target of theft. The US Department of Justice has recently targeted a massive network of catalytic converter thieves and is seeking over $500 million in forfeiture from the alleged criminals.

The DOJ says that it has made 21 arrests in five states and notes that it’s made “arrests, searches, and seizures” in the following states: California, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, and Virginia. (If you live in one of the other 41 states in the US, it probably goes without saying, catalytic converter theft is a problem there too.)