I chased the fucker for a whole hour unable to corner him. Fucker stole my Vulcan on the first go denying me the only weapon I had that was truely effective to hunt him. Then he stole my laser upgrade. How can I destroy the bugger fast?

As a concept, I love this guy but they made him WAY too fast. I got the feeling I'll have to resort to cheap tactics to dispatch him.

If you can lure it into an open area, homing missiles may work. Otherwise, try to draw it into a confined area so that its speed doesn't let it dodge effectively. At nothing else, you could set the option to remove the thief at level load.

I might do that yes. While I like the idea of that sneaky enemy, fact is he only contribute to make each level more of a hassle than it needs to be since he often ends up taking major equipment from me and I am stuck hunting him for a while.

I wish they made it a bit less fast. At that speed it is just ridiculous.