more cases reported.
http://www.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20080804-80428.html >> ASIAONE / MOTORING / NEWS / STORY
Mon, Aug 04, 2008
The New Paper
How did my $96,000 car vanish?
They live in the same block, park in the same carpark, and drive the same sport utility vehicle model.
Now, they're both car theft victims.
And the timing of the thefts suggests it's the work of the same car thief or gang.
Overnight, the Honda CRVs of Mr Anthony Lim and Mr Richard Ang went missing from the multi-storey carpark at Block 331A Kang Ching Road.
Police later told The New Paper that one of the cars had been found.
Mr Lim believes his car was stolen during the six hours from when it was last seen by a cleaner, before midnight, and the next morning.
What was baffling to him was that the immobiliser system of his car, which is supposedly 'impossible to break', had failed to stop the thief.
An immobiliser is an electronic device fitted to a car, which prevents the engine from running without a key that has been synchronised with the car.
The system works by cutting off the power supply to the engine if the proper key is not inserted, noted Mr Winson Ow, 40, managing director of CS Racing, a company that does car modifications.
However, there are still ways to get around the system, added Mr Ow.
He said: 'If the thieves have a spare key and know the car's wiring system, it would be possible for them to break the steering wheel lock and drive the car away.'
In this case, both the cars came with the immobiliser fitted as original equipment.
Mr Lim said he does not believe his key had been duplicated, as he serviced his car only at the authorised service centres.
As everything in his car had been fitted at Honda's factory in Japan, he had not expected a thief to break in and drive off easily.
The two owners had each paid about $96,000 to buy their cars.
The two thefts were discovered when the owners went to the carpark early on Wednesday morning.
Mr Ang, 35, said: 'I cannot believe that my car can just disappear like that. It just vanished. These people are better than David Copperfield.'
Mr Lim, 40, who discovered his loss at 6.30am, at first thought he had forgotten where he had parked the previous evening.
So, after flagging down a taxi to take his daughter to school that morning, the project manager went back to the carpark to look for his car.
His 18-month-old metallic blue CRV was nowhere to be found.
Mr Lim said he also kept an eye out for his neighbour's six-month-old black Honda CRV but he did not spot that either.
He went back to the lot where he had left the car the night before, but did not see any pieces of glass or any other tell-tale signs of a break-in.
The previous evening, Mr Lim had parked his car on the second level at 6.30pm, while Mr Ang had parked on the third level at 8.30pm.
The car cleaner had cleaned Mr Lim's car between 11.30pm and midnight.
Mr Lim said: 'My car was parked at the busiest spot. There are people walking around here all the time.
'Yet, the thieves managed to slip away. It's like Gone In 60 Seconds in Singapore.'
Mr Lim, who drives into Malaysia at least once a week for work, said: 'If I had lost my car in Malaysia, I would have nothing to say.
'But I can't believe our cars got stolen right under our noses.'
Puzzled by the thefts, Mr Lim went to talk to the car distributor to find out if there were any loopholes in the car's security system.
The mechanics there suggested to him that the cars could have been towed away.
When The New Paper checked with the police yesterday evening, we were told that Mr Lim's car had been recovered, and that further investigations are on.
When we told Mr Lim, he said he was relieved.
He added that even if he got the car back, he and his wife have decided to sell it and change to another brand.
This article was first published in The New Paper on August 3rd 2008.
