While New Zealand was in the midst of a strict lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, a group of thieves stole no less than 97 vehicles from a rental car company.
A report from the BBC revealed that when most New Zealanders were at home, thieves cut through the gate of rental car company Jucy in Auckland. The facility was housing hundreds of cars with their doors unlocked and the keys inside. It was easy pickings.
Over the course of several days during a long weekend, the thieves drove off with no less than 97 vehicles (!) without Jucy having any knowledge that many of their cars were missing. Most were city vehicles but there were a handful of the company’s recognizable green vans stolen. However, the thieves clearly didn’t have a very solid plan and it only took a few days before the suspicions of authorities were raised.
Speaking with the BBC, New Zealand police inspector Matt Srhoj said authorities noticed something was up after spotting many cars being driven suspiciously.
“We realized that something was not quite right,” Srhoj said. “The cars caused suspicion by the way they were driven and a few of our patrol cars ended up in pursuit of those vehicles. When we became aware that we came across quite a few of those Jucy vehicles in unusual circumstances we assumed they’d been stolen and alerted the company.”
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While the coronavirus lockdown made it easy for thieves to steal the cars, it also made it easy for police to track them down. As of this week, 85 of the missing vehicles had been recovered and no less than 29 people have been arrested in connection with the simple heist. Many of those detained have links with local gangs but police don’t believe it was a well-coordinated effort. Clearly.
“It was devastating for us as a business,” Jucy founder Tim Alpe told the BBC. “It’s a horrible situation but if you can take a positive out of it then it’s that people rallied round to help and the police were outstanding to have arrested a lot of people and recover most of the cars.”