A 29-year-old man was arrested in Kailua yesterday on suspicion of car theft after a police officer on patrol duty noticed the car's license plate was covered by the type of plastic commonly used to distort photographic images of the plate.

The officer pulled the car over and found that the obscured license plate had not been issued for that vehicle.

A check of the vehicle identification number showed that the car had been reported stolen, and the driver was arrested.

Man, 24, suspect in car break-in

Kalihi police officers yesterday afternoon caught up with a 24-year-old man accused of breaking into a car on the North Shore earlier in the day.

Police said a Department of Land and Natural Resources worker saw a car being broken into at about 11:45 a.m. and wrote down the license-plate number of a vehicle driven by the vandal.

Kalihi police officers were able to use the license plate number provided to them to find and arrest the suspect on suspicion of unlawful entry into a motor vehicle.

3 teens in stolen truck arrested

Three boys were arrested on suspicion of truck theft in 'Ewa Beach early yesterday morning after a police officer saw a truck being driven on Fort Weaver Road without tail lights.

The officer pulled the truck over at about 4:15 a.m. and noticed the ignition had been "punched" and that a screwdriver was being used to start it.

The officer checked with the truck's owner and learned it had been stolen but had not been reported to police.

A 17-year-old boy who was riding in the truck bed told the officer the two 15-year-old boys in the cab had stolen the truck.