A thief in Johor Bahru stole an SUV after the driver left the car unlocked with the engine running while he was refuelling it.
Luxury items and money were reported to have been in the SUV when it was stolen.
According to reports, the SUV was recovered by the Malaysian police on the same night (31 March).
However, many of the items in the car had been stolen, including the SUV’s battery.
According to Oriental Daily Malaysia (ODM), the incident occurred at a Petronas fuel station in Marina Puteri, Johor Bahru (JB) around 6am on Sunday (31 March).
Source: Oriental Daily Malaysia
Businessman Mr Lin said he did not lock the car or turn the engine off while refuelling his girlfriend’s black Toyota Alphard.
All of a sudden, he noticed a stranger sitting in the car’s driver’s seat.
The man allegedly locked the door and stepped on the accelerator, taking off with the vehicle.
Mr Lin then borrowed a phone to contact his girlfriend, Ms Liu.
Mr Lin told ODM that there were several luxury items in the vehicle when it was stolen, including:
Including the Rm100 (S$29) stashed in the car, Mr Lin and Ms Liu lost about RM30,000 (S$8,500) worth of luxury brand items and cash.
The SUV was also valued at RM200,000 (S$57,045), bringing the total loss from the theft to an estimated RM230,000 (S$65,545).
Source: China Press Johor
According to China Press Johor (CP), Ms Liu tracked the car’s location through her Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system.
The RFID showed the thief passing a toll plaza on a highway at 6.32am.
Ms Liu was also able to track the location of the vehicle through an iPhone that was in the SUV.
The robbers allegedly drove along the North-South Expressway for 100 km before parking at a different petrol station for about an hour.
“My friend went to the Shell petrol station in the afternoon to check the CCTV and found that after the thief arrived at the station, he stopped to ‘rest’ from 6.35am to about 7.25am,” Ms Liu said.
She reported the crime to the police at around noon. The police attempted to follow the location of the iPhone, but were unsuccessful after it was suspected that the phone had been abandoned.
After several hours of trying to hunt down the stolen SUV, the police were able to recover the vehicle that same night, according to CP.
The luxury items and money were found to have been taken by the thief, including the car’s battery.
As the thief did not possess the car keys, Ms Liu suspected the perpetrator kept the engine running throughout the day.
It is unclear how much Ms Liu would have to pay to repair the SUV.
Also read: 3 Teens Arrested For Allegedly Stealing Car In Yishun, Vehicle Reportedly Abandoned At Carpark
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Featured image adapted from Oriental Daily Malaysia and Facebook.
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