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SINGAPORE: A peculiar habit left one motorist in Singapore with a loose car bumper, several scratches to its body and a damaged interior, as well as a sobering reminder that it is never too safe to take precautions in Singapore.
As the car key fob was faulty, Wong Wei Loong and his wife occasionally left their car doors unlocked, and the key in the vehicle, for much of the last two years.
But when the 37-year-old account director at a creative agency went to retrieve a camera from his car at about 11.20pm on Oct 29, the vehicle was missing from the space it was last parked in at the multi-storey carpark of Block 457 Sengkang West Road.
After fruitlessly scouring the carpark for 40 minutes, Wong lodged a police report.
“It took a while to set in that the car was actually stolen,” he said. “You really wouldn’t imagine that – the closest might be someone going in and stealing a CashCard or something else. But the whole thing was driven away.”
A further shock was to come for Wong.
As he and his wife were talking to two policemen at the scene, he heard the familiar sound of his car engine revving before he noticed the vehicle pull into the carpark. The car was then driven up to the second floor.
The police officers quickly moved to intercept and halt the car, and instructed the people inside to get out of it. Six teenagers emerged.
In response to Straits Times queries, the police said that five males, aged between 14 and 16, and a 13-year-old girl, were arrested for theft of motor vehicle.
“One of the male teenagers, aged 16, will also be assisting with investigations for possession of offensive weapon,” said the police.
After Wong got his car back, he moved it and parked it on a higher floor. It was then that he discovered an array of items allegedly left behind by the teenagers.
The items were strewn across the front and back seats, and the floorboard of the car. They included a knuckle duster, an e-vaporiser, a portable charger, a slipper, a coin and a receipt from a petrol kiosk.
The receipt showed that a transaction with a value of S$59.52 was made to top up the car’s petrol tank at an SPC petrol kiosk at 100 Punggol Central at 2.12am on Oct 29, indicating that the car had also been taken the night before its disappearance was discovered.
The vehicle theft case is currently being investigated by the police, who added that the vape-related offence was referred to the Health Sciences Authority.
Wong also found that the car was damaged. The damage included a loose bumper, several external scratches, a broken glove box latch, and an ashtray cover that had come apart. The car’s dashcam had also been disconnected from its power socket.
A child seat, which was installed in the car’s rear passenger seat, had also been removed and placed in the car boot. According to Wong, some fabric on it was torn, and its restraining strap was also damaged.
Wong, noted, however, that he did not lose any valuable items.
His CashCard, a camera and a few lenses in a bag that he had left in his car boot were untouched. He estimated that the Olympus EM-5 i and lenses were worth around $2,500.
Still, Wong said he has learnt a lesson and vowed he would no longer leave his car unlocked, even though he said he has mixed feelings about the incident.
He said: “I couldn’t bring myself to get angry... I didn’t really know what to feel about the whole thing. It’s just quite a sad situation, but hopefully they (the teenagers) have time to change.” - The Straits Times/ANN
