Thursday August 25, 2011

Man leaves Myvi at service centre and drives off in BMW

By SARBAN SINGH
newsdesk@thestar.com.my

SEREMBAN: A man who walked into a service centre near here on the pretext of servicing his Perodua Myvi shocked patrons and the outlet owner when he drove away another customer's newly-serviced BMW.
However, he was arrested the next morning while attempting to drive the car out of a parking lot outside a row of shophouses near his home in Sikamat near here.
Police also seized two other vehicles parked near the rented home of the suspect a Mitsubishi Triton and a Kia Spectra. The Myvi was also reported stolen earlier.

Hot wheels: SAC Osman (centre) inspecting the BMW that was seized from the thief. – Bernama

Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect, in his early 40s, had gone on a spree, stealing several other cars including Honda, Toyota and Nissan models from service centres and workshops, state police chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Osman Salleh said.
“The thefts were reported in the Klang Valley in recent weeks. Investigations reveal this is a one-man show,” he told reporters yesterday.
He added that the suspect, who was from Perak but did odd jobs in Kuala Lumpur, had been jailed twice for criminal offences.
He had been renting the house here for the past three months.
“His modus operandi was simple. He would observe happenings at a particular workshop or service centre, coolly walk in and just drive the car away,” he said, adding that there was a possibility that the stolen cars might have been cannibalised and sold to spare part dealers.
SAC Osman advised those who had bought cars below the market value to notify the nearest police station as they might be driving stolen vehicles.
Those found driving such vehicles can be charged with having stolen property.