Another stolen car found with the help of friend finder.
SourceFriend Finder helps police smash auto theft ringMuzliza Mustafa
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 13:54:00
KUALA LUMPUR: All a car owner had to do to track down his stolen Honda Accord was to use his telco's Friend Finder service and locate his cellphone left in his car.
It helped police recover two other stolen vehicles and led to the arrest of three suspects at Bandar Sri Permaisuri in Cheras last Friday.
It all began last Thursday evening when the car owner, a lawyer in Kuala Lumpur, discovered his car missing near the Jalan Duta Courts complex. He wasted no time in lodging a police report.
A source close to the police investigation said the lawyer also alerted his car immobiliser company but they could not immobilise his car as the thief had apparently jammed the signal.
However, the car immobiliser company managed to provide the lawyer with the last location of his car before the signal ended. The lawyer relayed this vital bit of information to the police who then went on a four-hour search for the car in Bandar Sri Permaisuri.
The source said later the same evening, the lawyer told police he had left his cellphone in the car and had used his telco's Friend Finder service to pinpoint the exact location of the cellphone. With this additional information, police narrowed down several spots in Bandar Sri Permaisuri where they soon spotted three men acting suspiciously along a quiet road in the neighbourhood.
The three men were seen alighting from a Toyota Camry and then driving away in a Toyota Estima.
Police checks on the two vehicles revealed the Camry was reported stolen in Damansara while the Estima was reported stolen in Jalan Pudu.
Realising they had stumbled upon a car theft syndicate, a police team kept an eye on the Camry while another team went scouring the neighbourhood for the lawyer's Honda Accord.
The next day, police managed to locate the Honda Accord which was parked not far from the Camry. A few hours later when three men came to pick up the Camry, police moved in to arrest them and also seized a Toyota Mark X which the suspects had arrived in.
Checks showed the Toyota Mark X belonged to a Singaporean and was reported stolen in Puchong recently.
Police investigations so far revealed the suspects would deliver stolen cars to a particular location in Johor Baru where the syndicate would cannibalise the parts for sale in the black market or smuggle it overseas.
A police source said the three suspects have been remanded to assist in police investigations.
“We are trying to determine who the rest of their gang members and also other stolen car cases linked to them,” said the source, adding this is the second time a telco's Friend Finder service had been used to locate a stolen car in the country. The first was last year.