Man who allegedly stole S'pore driver's Audi from JB car wash attempts daring escape

Monday, Dec 04, 2017

It is not uncommon for Singaporeans to pop into neighbouring Johor Bahru (JB) for a few hours to take advantage of the cheaper prices there.

Facebook user Mohamad Hafiz drove to JB on Nov 16 with his friend to hang out and decided that he might as well get his Audi washed there as well.

However, when he returned to the car wash two hours later to retrieve his car, he found out that somebody else had driven away with it.

He wrote in a Facebook post, which has since been removed:

"...it's normal practice that we hand our keys over to the car wash guys so that they can move our cars from the washing area to the drying/vacuuming area.

"I reached at midnight and 2 hrs later when I wanted to go home and asked for my car, they told me that my 'friend' has collected it on my behalf.

"I thought they were pulling my leg but true enough someone else drove away [with] the car already. The thief acted as though it was his car, paid for the car wash and drove off with my car."

When they realised what had happened, the facility's managers came down and went with Hafiz to make a police report.

Hafiz, who had bought his car just three weeks prior to the incident, contacted his dealer and finance company the next morning and found out that there was a tracker in his car.

"We went straight to the location (it was a condo) and after 2 hours of battling with the guards and management we managed to find out the unit number of the flat the thief was staying in," he wrote.

"When we stormed in, the thief climbed out of the window and climbed down from the 22nd floor to the 20th floor in an attempt to flee.

"Obviously he was caught and brought back to [the] station.

"Luckily, there wasn't any damage to my car other than [him] mixing up the numbers on my number plate."

In his post, Hafiz also shared a video of the man standing on the ledge outside the unit.

He said that his car was "detained for another 2 weeks at the police station" for investigations. He was "filled with anxiety and worry" during that time.

He ended off his post saying that he wanted to share his experience in order to warn others to be cautious and to take care of themselves and their property.

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