Challenger Demon SRT 170 Among $1.2M in Vehicles Stolen in Sophisticated Theft
A group of savvy thieves managed to make off with eight vehicles, including a Challenger Demon SRT 170, from an Alabama dealership.
Mopar fans are quite aware of just how special the Dodge Challenger Demon SRT 170 is, a last call if there ever was one for a good old fashioned world-beating muscle car. After all, we are talking about a car that churns out more than 1,000 horsepower and is capable of running high eights at the drag strip – mind boggling numbers by any measure. However, with a mere 3,000 slated for the U.S., finding a Challenger Demon SRT 170 isn’t exactly what one might call easy – or cheap – as we’ve seen plenty with seriously laudable markups attached to their sticker prices. However, a group of rather sophisticated thieves wound up getting one for “free” recently in a pretty shocking and broad incident, according to AL.com.
This particular incident happened over the weekend at North Country Ford in Arab, Alabama, and it involved a total of eight vehicles valued at around $1.2 million. Clearly, the thieves knew exactly what they wanted – including the Challenger Demon SRT 170 – as they took a handful of enthusiast-coveted models like a Jeep Wrangler and a Ford Bronco Raptor as well. If that wasn’t bad enough, the thieves also made off with over 300 keys for other vehicles on the lot, too.
Unfortunately, police don’t have a lot of evidence to go by, as after the thieves tossed a rock through a window in the service bay area to gain access, they turned off the security cameras and erased any footage that existed of them entering the building. After that, they were able to plug a laptop into the dealer’s key safe and gain access, toss hundreds of them in a bag, then pass that bag along as each thief started one of the eight vehicles and proceeded to drive away.
Since the thieves entered through the service bay and even bothered to lock the showroom door after leaving, no one even noticed what happened until a cleaning crew found the broken glass the next day – at which point the perpetrators were long gone. Both the Wrangler and Bronco Raptor were later recovered, however, though none of the crew that stole them have been found.
At this point, the crime is big enough – and similar to some other thefts that have occurred recently – that Arab Police have been joined by the FBI in their investigation. If nothing else, this serves as a warning for other dealerships, which may want to look into figuring out ways to circumvent this quickly-growing problem.
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