When Chuckanut Drive resident Peter Agras started his ’89 Toyota pickup one recent morning, he knew something was amiss.

“It was as if it didn’t have a muffler on it,” he said. “It was just incredibly loud. At first I thought, ‘Oh brother, something has fallen off.’”

Actually, the truck’s catalytic converter — a device that purifies exhaust by burning up toxins released by the engine — had been removed during the night.

Agras is in the process of reporting the theft to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office.

Catalytic converter thefts have risen slightly in Bellingham since last year. The Bellingham Police Department reported five total converter thefts since January of this year — already up two from all of 2007. Statistics regarding catalytic converter thefts for Whatcom County were not available. Converters contain precious metals, such as platinum, rhodium or palladium, which tempt thieves, who commonly remove converters with power saws, then resell them to metal recyclers for $10 to $200. Motorists have to pay far more than that to replace them, sometimes topping $2,000.

The soaring price of platinum may be fueling catalytic converter thefts nationwide. Currently, platinum costs more than $2,000 per ounce, up from about $1,540 six months ago, according to kitco.com, a Web site that collects live market quotes for metals.

Two Bellingham men were arrested by the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office in January 2007 in connection with catalytic converter theft.

Z Recycling on Guide Meridian decided to stop buying catalytic converters in December 2007 in response to thefts in the area. Two months ago, it began reaccepting converters, but offered sellers a flat $20 for any type.

“If we have a regular customer that has one, we’ll pay $20 and that’s it,” said Dan Thompson, President of Z Recycling.

Thompson said he has not seen more people selling catalytic converters recently, but thinks the flat rate motivates thieves to take their business elsewhere.

Catalytic converters are easy to remove — thieves can detach the devices in as little as five minutes, according to Bob Rude, owner of Rude’s Auto Repair on Iowa Street in Bellingham — but they’re expensive to replace.

Rude estimates that a catalytic converter replacement will cost $225 to $1,500, even $2,000 for top-of-the-line cars such as BMWs.

He has seen two customers in the last two months who needed catalytic converter replacements, but in both cases, the entire car was stolen and found with parts missing.

Agras was able to find a replacement converter online for $125, including shipping, from a national auto parts distributer. And he thinks his new converter is platinum free.

“I’m thinking of printing out a couple of bumper stickers that say, ‘catalytic converter contains no platinum,’” Agras said.

“I hate being paranoid, but at this point I’m worried I’ll have repeat crimes.”