Car sensor theft in West London

There's been an uplift in the number of BMW sensors being ripped off the front of the cars in the last week – it's particularly bad in West London. My fiancee was a victim earlier this week, and when he rang the garage to find the solution they mentioned that they'd had an influx of similar calls recently, and that it was related to a particular gang. We popped into town today and saw three out of four BMWs with the same sensor missing. On our street there's another parked BMW that's also been done (pic attached). There's also plenty of noise online about people in London being targeted.

The sensors retail for around £4,000, but have a much lower resale value (around £300), because it's near impossible to buy one second hand and have it re-calibrated to your car unless you use a dodgy mechanic. BMW just won't help you unless you buy a completely new sensor at the full price. Many of the sensors being sold online are listed in eastern Europe. Even though the sensors have a much lower resale value, the fact that it takes 10 mins to whip it off the car and the police's reluctance to do anything to stop it is probably what will make it an attractive crime.

The Met have told my fiancee that they won't do anything until they have CCTV to reference, so I imagine the numbers will increase with their lack of action.

BMW's response has been to sell a 'security kit' (https://www.leebmann24.com/de/de/product/bmw-security-kit-diebstahl-frontradar-sensor-10007329) that makes it more difficult for the devices to be stolen – I think there's a question here about why BMW aren't making the sensors more difficult to steal in the first place. It's astounding that they have the gall to sell a £100k car with this kind of glaring vulnerability.

I’ve written to BBC London and the Evening Standard. Hoping to kick the Met in to action by spreading the word.