Ramallah: The Israeli regime has permitted private security companies to operate drones to locate stolen cars in the West Bank.

The Israeli daily Yediot Ahranoth reported on Thursday that Ituran, a car tracking and protection company, retrieved a stolen Israeli car from the city of Tulkarim in the West Bank. The Israeli occupation forces announced a successful security operation where company representatives accompanied by huge occupation forces raided Tulkarim and returned the stolen car to Israel.

Israel believes that the employment of the drones provided an additional force in war on car theft in Israel.

The companies use the drones to locate the stolen cars that cross the Green Line into the West Bank.

According to Israeli Police data, 5,400 cars were stolen between January and May, a decrease of 19 per cent compared to the same period in 2015.

A Palestinian car thief known as Dahmous told Gulf News that once Palestinian thieves lay their hands on stolen cars, they disable and remove the tracking devices. “We know that the Israelis are so sophisticated technologically but we are not less than a step ahead in this regard,” he said. “The Israelis provide their cars with tracking devices to determine their precise locations and the use of the drones will not make a real difference in the Israeli war on car theft as long as we have the ability to remove those units upon the cars’ arrival.”

He said that the use of drones is a psychological war against the Palestinian car thieves. “The Israeli occupation forces and police exaggerate about car thefts in Israel. The Israelis hand their cars to the Palestinian thieves on the Israeli crossings and the checkpoints to make claims with insurance companies, the value for which is often 85 per cent of a new car’s value,” he said. “The Israeli owner of the stolen car only keeps the keys of the stolen vehicle to file a stolen car insurance claim.”

He said that the stolen cars are cut into pieces in a matter of minutes after their arrival in certain areas like the village of Shwaika of Tulkarim; and after the cars are reduced into pieces, the parts are put in the market as spare parts.