He Chuntie, the owner of Xiao Xiang Yuan restaurant, spoke to Lianhe Zaobao that he had his car stolen after leaving his engine running for 10 minutes to run some errands.
He said that on the afternoon of 23 September, he had two boxes of ingredients inside his second-hand Toyota Allion that he needed to bring to the restaurant.
He then parked his car on the side of Geylang Road, before carrying the first box of ingredients into his restaurant, and left his engine running.
When he came back from the restaurant about 10 minutes later to get the other box of ingredients from his car, the car was gone.
His passport, mobile phone and two apartment keys were also inside the vehicle when it was stolen.
He said that he didn’t expect his car to be stolen throughout the 14 years he had been living in Singapore, and highlighted the fact that his car was a second-hand Toyota Allion, which was “worn out” and had many scratches.
He then lodged a police report, and the police then found his car about 4 hours later at Geylang Lorong 44 through the use of police cameras.
His passport and apartment keys were still inside the vehicle but his mobile phone was gone.
He described the Singapore Police Force as being really efficient and lauded how they managed to find his car so quickly.
The Singapore Police Force confirmed that they had recovered a stolen car, and at the time of writing, police investigations are still ongoing.