Tracked stolen vehicle recovered within hours

A vehicle stolen from Belvedere in the early hours of Friday morning was recovered in Warren Park within hours of being discovered missing, thanks to the satellite tracking system installed in it and the police vehicle theft squad's efficiency.

Discovering, after getting up in the morning, that the Toyota Corolla was missing, the vehicle's owner phoned the tracking company, ezytrack, which was able to establish from its live tracking system within minutes where the vehicle was parked.

It was also able to establish from its tracking data that the car was stolen at 2.30 am.

One ezytrack vehicle went immediately to the location in Warren Park, while another went to Southerton Police Station, where the crack police vehicle theft squad is based, to report that the vehicle had been stolen and that the ezytrack satellite tracking system had identified where it was parked.

"We have a very good relationship with the police vehicle theft squad, which is extremely efficient," said ezytrack operations manager Stuart Trow.

"We went with members of the squad to where the vehicle was parked in front of a house in Warren Park. They called for back-up, which arrived within minutes, and did surveillance of the area before entering the house and apprehending a man inside it.

"The number plates on the car had been changed, including the third number plate which is attached to the inside of the windscreen," Mr Trow said.

He said the car's engine number and chassis number were checked and matched those in the registration book of the stolen car.

"We received the report that the car had been stolen after 7am. By 9am the car had been recovered," he said.

He added that the vehicle theft squad had subsequently mounted a sting operation and arrested two other people. The three people arrested were believed to have included the person who actually stole the car and the person believed to have masterminded the theft.

Mr Trow said there had apparently been a number of Toyota Corollas stolen recently. Because there was a satellite tracking device installed in the one stolen on Friday, it had been easy to pinpoint its location.

"We have recovery teams that work closely with the police in the recovery of vehicles fitted with our satellite tracking device," Mr Trow said. "All the person whose vehicle has been stolen has to do is let us know the vehicle has been stolen and we can locate it, through the live tracking system, and, with the assistance of the police, recover it.

"We are able to react quickly to such thefts anywhere in the country, through our partnership with Safeguard Security, which makes its resources available to us for recoveries outside Harare. Within Harare, we have our own recovery teams."

Mr Trow said that owners of vehicles fitted with an ezytrack tracking device can track the vehicle themselves through the ezytrack web-site but normally leave it to ezytrack to recover the vehicle with police assistance.

"When a vehicle is stolen, it is essential to report it to the police and let the police apprehend those who have stolen it. However, satellite tracking makes the police's job easier, since we can pinpoint the vehicle's location and in this way assist them in apprehending the thieves and recover the vehicle," Mr Trow said.