Stolen vehicle recovered with help from car group

[Kennon_road]

Hopefully ganito ginagawa ng mga members sa mga ibat ibang car community forums.

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Car stolen during test drive

But online car forum members rally to help owner nab thief

By Karen Tee

THE owner of a Mitsubishi car
thought he had struck a good deal
when he found a buyer who was
willing to pay $95,000 for his
three-year-old car.

But 'the buyer' turned out to be a
crook, who fled with the car after a
test drive.

Upset, the owner turned to an online forum for car lovers. He
appealed to its 1,000 members to help find his car.

Three days later, he had the last laugh because the members not
only found his car, they staged an ambush and nabbed the culprit,
too.

Who says motoring buffs can't be sleuthing Sherlocks too?

It all started two weekends ago when the owner, who declined to
be interviewed, advertised to sell his dark purple Mitsubishi Galant
VR4.

According to members of the Singapore Mitsubishi Club, the culprit
had called the owner on Jun 1, expressing an interest to buy and to
test-drive the car.

NEEDED TO GET CHEQUE

When they met, the 26-year-old man said he was very pleased
with it and would like to buy it. But he said he would have to drive
to his parent's home in Bukit Timah to get the cheque from his
father for the deposit.

It was close to midnight then when they arrived at his supposed
home.

There, he pretended to check and claimed that his father was not
home yet.

When the owner asked to wait in the house, he refused, claiming
that he did not want to disturb his family as they were sleeping.

So, the two waited in the car - the buyer in the driver's seat -
chatting to while away the time.

At about 1am, the owner, who started to grow impatient, stepped
out of the car to stretch.

In a flash, the buyer made his move.

He started the engine, stepped on the accelerator and sped off.

He took with him the owner's waistpouch, which contained his
wallet and money.

The stunned owner called the police with his handphone. But the
culprit was not found that night.

On the next day, the owner called the host of the Mitsubishi Club,
an online forum for car enthusiasts, for help.

COMBING SINGAPORE

When contacted by The New Paper, the host, who only wanted to
identified as Andy, said: 'You could see how haggard the owner
was after three days of worrying. He could not eat, sleep, work or
do anything.

'The car was worth a lot to him. He had spent more than $30,000
on accessories for his car, including a hi-fi system and 18-inch
racing rims for his wheels.'

He then posted a message informing all the members to keep a
lookout for it.

And they saw it all over Singapore.

He said: 'From Monday to Wednesday, I received more than 100
text messages and countless more phone calls from members who
had seen the dark purple car in various parts in Singapore. It
helped that the car has a unique colour.'

He also organised a group of about 30 members who volunteered to
comb various parts of Singapore.

Last Wednesday, the breakthrough came.

A member spotted the stolen car parked in the basement carpark of
Excelsior Hotel at Coleman Street.

According to Andy, the police went there, dusted it for fingerprints
and interviewed the owner.

But they left after about a little more than an hour, handing the car
back to its owner. Probably they thought that the thief had already
abandoned the car.

But Andy, the owner and the other members had a hunch that the
culprit might just come back.

So they hid in one corner and waited for about two hours.

True enough, at about 10pm, the car thief appeared.

He was dressed in a business suit and was with five other men.

Andy said the culprit stood 'rooted to the ground' when he saw
them running at him.

The man's friends, who were initially prepared to help him, backed
off and ran away when they realised what the culprit had done.

Said Andy: 'We grabbed him by the arms to prevent him from
running away.

'At one point, the owner was so agitated that he held the man in a
headlock because he refused to say anything.

'The culprit just kept looking down on the ground and would not
look at anybody in the eye. We might have let him go if he had
apologised but he didn't,' Andy said.

They called the police again and the officers arrested him shortly
after.

The owner also recovered the pouch which contained his identity
card. But the crook had taken $600 cash.

Yesterday, a police spokesman confirmed that a man had been
arrested in connection with the theft.

He is out on bail pending further investigation.

As for Andy and his club members, they were thrilled that their
detective work had paid off. They had scored in their first very
attempt to help a member track down a stolen car.

'Let this serve as a warning to would-be car thieves,' said Andy.

'With so many people on the lookout, the chances of them
escaping scot-free are very low.'

[pajerokid]

Thats good. Singapura is a small place kaya pwede dun yung ganito.

[wreckless]

ang galing!!!

mukhang mahirap ata dito yan..not unless..
UNIQUE talga yung mga sasakyan natin!!

[HBOY]

kaya magpapintura na kayo ng unique colors... maybe hot fink!.. neon green... hehehe:mrgreen:

[kevinp]

pa-paint na ng bright pink ang mga auto para madali makita. hehehe! :mrgreen:

[pajerokid]

pag neon yung kulay ng oto ewan ko lang kung may magnakaw nun hehehe

[SunTzu]

go Mitsu! :D

[marwen]

nako... nanakawin pa rin yan.. chop chop na lang yung parts..solve na.. iba kasi ang pinoy carnappers...

[Kennon_road]

Saka mahirap sa atin, magsumbong ka eh baka balikan ka pa.:cry:

[kiper]

wow..saya naman nun..

sana sa pinas ganun din..!!