Owner of stolen vehicle in shock after well

IN the wee hours of Sunday morning nifty thieves made off with one of two vehicles parked in a yard, which the owner thought would be safe behind an automated security gate in the Cassia Park community in St Andrew.

The homeowner told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday that he was alerted by a neighbour about 4:00 am that the sedan motor car was missing.

He said the neighbour told him that two cars were parked at his gate "like dem live here", but at the time nothing untoward was suspected.

"They are professionals. It was a well-orchestrated plan. It's a team of people. They dismantled the arm of the remote gate to gain access to the premises," he said.

The homeowner said the property also has cameras and "a big floodlight", which also did nothing to deter the robbers as they also skilfully tampered with the camera system.

The thieves managed to steal the car by jimmying the lock. However, their attempt to steal the sports utility vehicle luckily did not work as the security system installed did not allow it, so they weren't able to get it started.

The homeowner said the thieves were very meticulous and they didn't break a window or pivot glass — everything was neatly done. He said the only evidence that anything was amiss was the key barrel that they dug out.

"I think they were trying to either sell the vehicle, sell parts, or whatever, so they did not damage the vehicle per se. Even the things they took out of the vehicle when they were trying to get it started, they carefully put them down in the vehicle. Either they are professional bodymen and professional electronics people, but they are professionals," he said.

The homeowner said he strongly believes they were canvassing the area and deliberately targeted his home despite the very visible security features.

"I guess they were driving around and they look and stuff…they come around at night and see what is where," he said.

The Cassia Park resident, who spent much of Sunday resecuring his property, said while he is grateful the police were able to retrieve the stolen vehicle, lamented that it still comes with a price as he has to fork out the high wrecker fee from his own pocket.

"This is causing me two wrecker fees which are not covered by insurance — $40,000 to move the stolen vehicle from the location [where it was found] to the police station, then to my house. The other one is to be taken down to [the dealership]," he said.

The distraught homeowner is suggesting that the police do more patrols in the area to deter other would-be robbers.

"The police need to do more patrols and stuff like that. The police must be aware of what is happening in their area of control and do patrols. Them cyaa sit down in their offices. They have to come out and just drive through the areas. If you know an area is having a problem, you need to do spot checks, patrols, and all that," he said.

This homeowner was not the only victim of these smooth operators, as over a two-week period, according to the operator of a wrecking service, he has been retrieving a number of vehicles that were stolen in the Cassia Park Area.

"They are either stolen from Cassia Park or are being stolen from elsewhere and taken to the community," he said.

He said he has also noticed that the vehicles stolen are both key and button start, and that the robbers do not damage the door or break a glass, but leave them in pristine condition.

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HOUSE RULES