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A US man was crushed to dying whereas allegedly attempting to steal a catalytic convertor from beneath a car in a automotive yard, police in Georgia mentioned.
Officers have been referred to as on March 7 after the person, Matthew Eric Smith, 32, was discovered useless beneath a automotive.
“Proof on the scene signifies that the person was killed whereas he was illegally eradicating a catalytic converter from the car, and the car fell on high of him,” a police assertion mentioned.
The converters, which cut back air pollution and poisonous gasoline from a car’s emissions, are comparatively straightforward to steal and comprise invaluable treasured metals similar to palladium, platinum and rhodium.
Final 12 months, federal, state and native regulation enforcement carried out a “coordinated takedown” of a multimillion-dollar community of catalytic converter thieves, sellers and processors that led to 21 arrests in 5 states.
“A few of these treasured metals are extra invaluable per ounce than gold and their worth has been rising in recent times,” the Justice Division mentioned on the time.
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“The black market worth for catalytic converters might be above US $1000 every, relying on the kind of car and what state it’s from.
“They are often stolen in lower than a minute.”
Final 12 months, in keeping with police, 39 catalytic convertors have been stolen from automobiles in Chatham County, Georgia.
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