FRESNO, Calif. -- With diesel over five bucks a gallon in the Golden State it's no wonder that thieves these days are less interested in the cargo inside your trailer than what's in your fuel tank.

The growing trend of diesel theft in Europe is spreading across the pond, especially to California where diesel prices are some of the highest in the country.

But police in other states all over the country are scrambling to clamp down on the growing number of fuel thieves, who are brazenly pilfering gas and diesel from service stations, bulk tanks in industrial areas, or from trucks as they're parked overnight at truckstops or motels.

The Argus Observer in Oregon quotes County Sheriff Andy Bentz saying he's noticed that reports of such thefts are high above the norm.

Thieves are getting into anything that stores
fuel -- pumps, vehicles, or bulk tanks on your lot.

A Daytona Beach newspaper reports that police in the region have had dozens of reports in recent months from angry truckers who awoke to find that their vehicle's tanks had been sucked dry.

Several gas stations also report that the perps break into fuel pumps by disconnecting an electronic chip inside and causing the fuel to flow without registering an amount.

Perhaps the most innovative swipers are in Pittsburgh, where the a local paper reports that thieves have been driving around with a tractor trailer, parking beside other trucks, and then siphoning the diesel into a 5,000-gallon tank using a vacuum powered by the truck's engine.

As the paper quips, "talk about a gas guzzler."