An average of 30 vehicles are stolen each day in NI

They were parked outside a house in the Altan area of Poleglass when they were attacked at 0550 BST on Thursday.

Vandals drove a so-called "runabout" car into the front of them and set it alight. Scorch damage was also caused to a nearby car.

Delegates at the Belfast conference were told that an average of 30 vehicles are stolen each day in Northern Ireland.

Almost half of them end up as so-called "ringer" vehicles which are stolen to sell on to unsuspecting buyers.

Car crime is a boom industry and so too is the market for anti-theft devices.

Every year, 10,000 vehicles are stolen across the province and the experts gathered in Belfast were aiming to co-ordinate a crack down.

The police report car crime is down by 38%, however, insurance premiums for motorists in the province remain among the UK's most expensive.

Building equipment theft is a another growth sector - one hire plant company alone lost a quarter of a million pounds worth of stock last year.

However, figures just published by the government show a sizeable drop in the number of cars stolen last year - a drop of almost 2,500 cars stolen in 2003 compared to 2002.

South Belfast showed the biggest improvement with the numbers of cars stolen cut by almost half.