Posted 01 August 2011 - 08:06 AM
Hey guys,
I'm the owner of the HQ Monaro that was stolen from Warwick in Queensland. There are a few things to say in regards to this event.
Firstly, the thieves were in fact very organised. There were definitely a few of them. As you saw in the news. The HQ 1-tonner was found about 24 hours after it was stolen, and it was completely stripped. There is no way 1 guy could do this on their own. There is nothing to say that the thieves used the internet to target the cars, although it is possible. We were told that the thieves followed up from a nearby town, possibly Stanthorpe. The thieves would target the cars there, and then they would strike.
ROB350HATCH, im not sure where exactly you got your information from, but a few things have been changed from the actual version of events. The thieves took the car in the early hours on the Sunday morning. Nobody saw anything happen, Everyone was asleep. Everyone in the club knew who we were, they know who owns the car, if they saw anyone else touching the car, they would have done something about it.
The real story, The cars were parked at the Motel, but we had a car (CV8) parked in the entrance so no cars could get in or out. Throughout the night the thieves set my car alarm off every half hour or so. So everytime it went off, I'd wake up and CHECK MY CAR, thought nothing suspicious, then reset my alarm. This happened for about 4 hours. Apparently the thieves do this hoping you get sick of the alarm and turn it off. However, I didnt turn it off. I had the kill switch in my hand also. But apparently, when you reset the alarm, You have 90 seconds, to get in the car before it activates. Which is what we thought must have happened.
So the next morning when we woke up, my car was missing. The police came straight away and informed us that a few had been stolen. Naturally we didnt have much hope. A few minutes later, we found the car bogged in a nearby paddock. So because we had the security in the front gate, the thieves pushed the car out the back. The fence was chopped down, lights were disconnected, CCTV were tampered with, our motel doors were locked from the outside with a rope to the railing The whole alarm module had been ripped out from under the bonnet, and there was evidence of a tow truck trying to pick the car up. All suggesting it was professionals who knew what they were doing. As for damage to the car, the car sustained paint damage while the thieves tried to get the car past the fence. It was scratched from front to back. A $20,000 paint job on this car was rubbish. the Alarm was tron out and they made a real mess of the wiring. They tore panels out from inside the car trying to track down the immobiliser also.
The forensics found 1 print on the car. Which led them to one of the thieves. He was charged.
We also got a phonecall from Warwick police about a week ago, explaining that they did a raid on a property somewhere near Brisbane, where they found a lot of stolen Toranas, caravans and boats. The thieves were caught at another show in Brisbane, about to steal another Torana. They were arrested at gunpoint and have also been charged.
Please, if you guys feel there was more I could have done to stop the thieves from stealing my pride and joy, please let me know. I'd love to hear a way to stop them.
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