What is significant is that the recovered vehicles were also stripped at the site, said Lt. Hank Nobriga of the Honolulu Police Department's auto-theft unit.

"(The thieves) didn't go up there for an hour or two," Nobriga said. "There's a lot of work involved in what they did. It's not something one person can do alone. What's more, they were stripping these cars under our very noses because (the site) is seven-tenths of a mile in from Pali Highway."

Nobriga estimates illegal activity has been going on at the site for over as year.

HPD's helicopter unit, which regularly checks for stolen vehicles in off-road areas hidden in brush, informed Nobriga's unit on Monday about several cars off Kapa'a Quarry Road. Auto-theft investigators hiked in Tuesday and Wednesday and discovered shells of 10 vehicles and 14 more that could not be identified.

One of the 10 stolen cars identified was taken in March 2002, said Nobriga. The group also includes a 2001 Ford Explorer that was reported stolen this year on Jan. 21 and a Jeep Cherokee taken about the same time, he added.

"All of the vehicles are missing interiors and engines," Nobriga said. "Most of them have their frames cut off.

"The 14 we couldn't identify were burned," he added. "For us, the recovery is important because we can find out how they they were stolen."

Nobriga noted that not all parts stripped from stolen cars are sold. Thieves often use the stolen parts on their own vehicles or to construct a car.

The site where the cars were found is not easily accessible. "You need a 4-wheel drive to get there and it's all up a dirt path," Nobriga said. "It's not anywhere a police officer could drive to."

The area is also cluttered with abandoned vehicles that aren't stolen.