The Anti-Auto Theft Control Squad (AATS) of South Delhi had initiated a drive to find out how car thieves were breaking car locks, how they escape the police net and manage to get out of the Capital. The police are also trying to find out who their customers are.

At least twice every week, three separate AATS teams in plainclothes carelessly park brand new cars at Sarita Vihar, South Extension and New Friends Colony market and wait for the thieves at a distance. The policemen make sure the cars have very little petrol -- so a thief cannot go far.

AATS inspector Raman Lamba told The Indian Express, ``We have not yet been successful in luring a thief to steal our cars. Once someone falls in our trap, we will follow the car. We will find out how he opened the lock,where he intends to take the car and who the potential customers of the new cars are.''

Between January and March 15, as many as 414 cars have been reported stolen from South Delhi alone. And six cars -- including Matiz, Indica and Tata Safaris, just out of the showroom -- have been stolen from the same district, Inspector Lamba says, expressing the police dilemma.

``Car thieves are beginning to target brands other than Maruti,'' he says. ``Over the years, the police had come to know the methods thieves used to open locks of Maruti cars.''

``We knew where they took the stolen cars, how they procured false registration plates from adjoining districts like Faridabad and Gurgaon and how they sold them in Nepal, the north-eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir,'' he says. ``In case of the new cars, we don't even know how they gain access into the car. We are yet to figure out how they mange to open the locks.''

For stealing a Maruti 800, all a car thief did was drill a hole, an inch below the ignition lock.Then, he would reach for the steering rod through the hole and break the lever. Once the lever was broken, all locks would fail to operate.

But, AATS personnel do not know how thieves open locks of new cars. For instance, the locking system of a Tata Indica is different from a Maruti 800 as it does not have a lever on the door. The locking system in an Indica is similar to that of a Maruti Zen. However, a Tata Indica deluxe or a Matiz deluxe has an entirely different locking system: It has a central lock attached to the vehicle.

In a recent case, MCD contractor Praveen Batra had parked his brand new red Matiz outside his E-2, Sarita Vihar house. When he came out of the house, after not more than five minutes, his car was missing. In fact, policemen say cars are stolen within a few minutes of their being parked.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) P K Srivastav said, ``The car thief follows every movement of his target driver. As soon as the driver parks his car, the thief gets into action. In mostcases, cars get stolen in the first few minutes after being parked.''