Police recover Miss Universe Singapore's missing bag; man says he intended to return it but was 'busy'

The police have recovered Miss Universe Singapore Annika Xue Sager's missing bag, a day after she shared on Instagram that she had spent 48 hours tracking it across Singapore using Apple's Find My app.

In an Instagram video uploaded on Thursday (Aug 6), Sager said she received the news from her investigating officer at about 8pm on Wednesday.

Shortly after receiving the call, two police officers arrived at her home to take her statement and to verify whether all the items in her bag had been recovered.

She said that "almost" everything was recovered, with only some cash from her wallet reported missing.

Sager said police did not disclose how they located the bag, apart from saying that CCTV footage had been used in their investigations.

In her previous video, she said the bag had fallen off her motorcycle along Swiss Club Road, and she was later told by a security guard that a black car had picked it up.

Recalling what investigators told her, Sager said: "From what I've been told, the driver said he intended to return my bag, but was busy."

"He also said he attempted to hand it in at a police station but apparently, it wasn't an active station and he didn't try anywhere else," she added.

While the case remains open, she said that she was "incredibly relieved" to have her belongings back.

In her video, she also thanked the police for recovering her belongings, as well as the public for the support shown since she posted her earlier appeal.

Tracked missing bag "all over Singapore" for 48 hours

In her previous video, Sager said that she lost her bag while she was riding her motorcycle to work.

Her bag had accidentally fallen off her motorcycle along Swiss Club Road, she said.

Sager told AsiaOne that she realised the bag was missing when she arrived at her destination, which was also along Swiss Club Road.

As soon as she realised it was gone, she used the Find My app to track her AirPods, which were in the bag, and immediately rode her motorcycle back to the location.

"I was back at the spot in less than five minutes, but my bag had already disappeared," Sager said in the video.

After speaking to a security guard at a nearby guardhouse, she learnt that a black car had picked up the bag.

Her request to see the footage was subsequently declined by the guard.

For the next 48 hours, she watched her bag travel "all over Singapore" through the app, including places such as Changi Airport, Pullman Singapore Hill Street and St. Joseph's Institution.

On Aug 4, she managed to track down the live location of her AirPods to a carpark in Bukit Panjang, where there was only one black car in the area.

Nonetheless, she admitted that she could not be sure if this was the exact vehicle that had picked up her bag since "location tracking isn't perfect".

As she was unable to meet the driver of the car when she first arrived at the location, so she returned to the area again that evening, where she noticed that the live location of her AirPods had moved to an HDB block.

"I went up and down all nine floors trying to reconnect to [my] AirPods to narrow down which unit [my bag was] in, but I couldn't get a precise enough signal," said Sager. 

She said that many of her daily items were in her bag, which included her wallet containing various credit and debit cards, identification cards, keys to another motorcycle, a makeup bag containing products from brands she recently started collaborating with, and her rain jacket and pants for when she rides her motorcycle. 

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daoen.wong@asiaone.com