The world is full of security cameras. It is also starting to fill up with craftier thieves. How else can you explain 26 cars stolen in one night from a sales lot in New York City? With so much security apparatus to protect people and places, how did it not alert authorities that a lot of cars were randomly exiting a Queens car lot in the middle of the night?

Two NYC dealers have had multiple cars stolen in one month

This same question is being asked about a similar heist at a Mitsubishi dealership in Jamaica, Queens, last month. Though theft is up 34 percent this year in New York City, across the river in New Jersey, this year has already broken car theft records set in 2021. But statistics don’t explain how this happened. In any case, this is how the theft happened.

The car dealership, Carsiri, is located on Queens Boulevard. This past Sunday night thieves invaded the property, first cutting off power. That defeated the surveillance cameras, explaining why nothing popped up in security footage. 

How did the thieves get the cars?

With the power off, they broke through the gate and entered the staff offices. That’s where the keys were located, all of which identified each car it belonged to. From there, the exodus commenced. Since there were only so many in on the heist, they went back to the dealership numerous times. In the process, they also stole seven computers and other unidentified items, according to Queens Chronicle. 

In all, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cars were stolen. And it was the same MO for the Jamaica car thefts, too. Authorities say that the similarities in the two thefts point to the same theft ring. 

“Our feeling is just based on the way crime is going, people taking these cars, they will use these 20 cars in multiple robberies and burglaries throughout the city, switching plates on and off and on and off,” NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig told Fox5 New York.

Is car theft rising in 2022?

This earlier theft netted the thieves 19 luxury cars. Thieves snagged over $800,000 worth of cars. Police have recovered only two of those cars, with no arrests so far. Many of these cars will end up sold overseas, or used for other crimes. 

In the first half of 2022, thieves stole over half a million cars. That amounts to $4.5 billion dollars. The two most popular vehicles stolen in 2022 so far are the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado, with GMC’s Sierra coming in sixth. Interestingly, neither New York nor New Jersey falls into the top 10 states for stolen vehicles in the U.S., and no cities in either state show up in the top 10 either. 

Nationwide, if reported within 24 hours, police recovered a third of stolen vehicles. In California, almost 90 percent were recovered, but many were damaged or hulks.