Markets in stolen catalytic converters?

Yes, they're 'hot.' ;-)

As Platinum Soars, the Catalytic Converter Gets Hot - Autopia from Wired.com: "Forget the rims, and never mind the stereo. Modern thieves looking for a serious payoff are skipping the obvious old staples and crawling underneath your car in search of the real prize: the catalytic converter. Standard issue on cars in this country since the mid-1970s, catalytic converters use a small amount of platinum to convert harmful engine emissions, including nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide, into less harmful ones, like nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

Considering that platinum has, in recent weeks, made an understatement of its status as a precious metal by touching $2075 an ounce, and considering each catalytic converter contains between three and seven grams of the stuff, that little metal box under your car just became a whole lot more interesting to certain folks.

This recent price spike is largely the result of fears of mine closures due to power cutbacks in South Africa, which controls some 80 percent of the world's platinum output, but it's hardly platinum alone that is seeing record prices. Palladium and rhodium, also used as catalysts, are running about $445 and $7300 an ounce, respectively."

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