As if we didn't have enough to worry about these days, the New York Times reminds all of us to lock our gas caps. If the anecdotal evidence is true, then it looks like stories about gas siphoners who raid unprotected gas caps will replace stories about iPod muggings in the subway:

"With the price of gas in the city hovering at $2.60 a gallon in recent weeks and rising to an average of $3.25 a gallon and up in the wake of the disruptions that followed Hurricane Katrina, many New York drivers are steeling themselves against the rise of a certain kind of petty criminal: gas siphoners."

In some parts of the Bronx, apparently, sales of gas caps are running 70-75% above normal. The NYPD, though, has yet to report a single documented case of gas siphoning. About a week ago, the USA Today published a story called "Is no gas tank safe?", evidently prompting the reporters of the New York Times to fan out into the boroughs, in search of the mysterious gas siphoners.

(photo: USA Today)