It was like a National Day present for him from the police.

Last week, his 11/2-year-old Honda CRV was stolen, along with four other similar cars.

But barely a week later, he got his car back - thanks to swift police work that resulted in the arrest of the alleged thief.

Project manager Anthony Lim, 40, a self-professed car lover, said he was so shattered by the theft that all week, his mind puzzled over how his car could disappear just like that.

He spent hours trawling the Internet for information on how the thieves managed to pull it off.

The car lover had spent much of his spare time on his car, washing it daily and polishing it regularly.

So he was elated when the police called him to tell him the good news.

He said: 'I was so grateful to them. I don't usually celebrate National Day, but I'm really happy this year.'

From the day that Mr Lim and his wife realised that they lost their car, which cost $98,000, both of them started calculating their losses.

Mr. Lim rented a Fiat for $300 a week, because they had to run errands.

Now, he is so thankful to the police officers in charge of the case, he intends to go down to the station with a thank-you card once the case is closed.

He said: 'I was very impressed with their work, but I could not talk to them as investigations were still ongoing.'

Then, there was the anxiety of waiting for the call from the police to collect his car.

He began to worry about whether his car had been damaged or used to commit crime, just like what had happened to one of his friends.

Mr Lim said his friend's car was found in Penang. It was riddled with bullets, as it had been used in a robbery.

But Mr Lim's fear was unfounded because as it turned out, among all the five stolen CRVs, his was in the best condition.

When he went to recover his car at Kah Motor last Wednesday afternoon, he found his daughter's iPod and other important documents such as clients' information missing.

His hammock, swimming trunks and collection of music CDs were untouched by the thieves.

However, after inspecting his car, he later found that both the keyhole at the driver's door and the ignition had been tampered with, so much so that he now cannot insert his key fully. So Mr Lim is now hoping to sell the car.

Apart from Mr Lim, the other four owners were happy too that they have their cars back.

RELIEVED

Businessman Kelvin Ong, 58, whose CRV was stolen from a multi-storey car park at block 656, Jurong West Central1 last Wednesday, said: 'I'm relieved that this is all over and I've got my car back. This is our National Day present!'

He had lost a cashcard, documents with information on his customers and a $300 digital camera that he had left in his car.

Mr Ong said that three different police officers who kept in touch with him and updated him on his case.

Beaming, he said he was 'very happy' with the police force.

When he inspected his car at Kah Motor, Mr Ong noted that on the surface, his car exterior looked 'fine', but was worried that the thieves may have caused damage to some of the car parts, which would not be detected by him.