Montgomery County (web|news) Police are dealing with a crime of the times as gas thieves are going after cars, hoping to cash in.

Investigators are looking into a string of siphon5 incidents in Bethesda and Germantown where gallons of high-priced petrol is pumped from the gas tanks of unsuspecting victims.

"He stuck something in and pried open the lid and the car alarm went off." Morris Harris said he was shocked when he was awoken at 3 a.m. by the sound of his car alarm going off. He rushed out of his Germantown home to his truck parked in the driveway and was shocked again. He said, "[I found] a gas tank on the ground next to my truck. They left the tank and ran off when the alarm went off."

Thanks to his car alarm, the would-be thieves got away empty handed, but there are a growing number of cases in Montgomery County where bandits are tapping into gas tanks and making away with liquid gold.

In the parking lot on Tuckerman Lane, thieves punctured the gas line of a bus and siphoned off gallons of gas. With gas close to $4 a gallon, police are calling the thefts a crime of the times and there may be little you can do to stop it.

"They just take a screwdriver and pop it off." Mechanic Johnny Kahayan said thieves found ways around the locking gas caps. They know how to pop the caps or bypass them by punching holes directly into your gas tank.

Kahayan said if a thief punctures you car's tank and you don't know about it, it can be dangerous for you when you turn on the ignition. "The gas tank is so close to the exhaust that quickly heats up with gas on it, it can easily catch the car on fire."

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