KLCC valet car thief had two previous drug offences, was caught in USJ 1 Subang on the same day – PDRM

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Here are more details on the KLCC valet parking car theft incident that happened over the weekend, the timeline, and the thief himself, courtesy of Dang Wangi police chief Noor Dellhan Yahaya.

He said that in the 12.48 pm Sunday incident, a 31-year-old owner handed over his SUV to the valet attendant at Suria KLCC and it was moved temporarily to the side of the main exit road. Some 10 minutes later, when the car was to be moved again, the SUV had gone missing but the car keys were still with the valet.

The car owner, an interior decorator, was informed about the theft when he wanted to leave the mall at 1.20 pm, and he then made a police report. “The victim then contacted the Dang Wangi control centre to report the loss of the car and for an ‘all-point bulletin’ to be posted to locate the vehicle,” Noor Dellhan said, adding that at 2.35 pm, the SUV was found at USJ One Avenue, Subang Jaya, by a police patrol unit.

The suspect, who was driving the car, tried to escape but was apprehended. “The remand application for the suspect who is 58 years old and has two records for drug offences will be made to assist in investigations under Section 379A of the Penal Code,” the cop said, reported by Bernama.

Over the weekend, a man who goes by the name Zach Khai Shin on Facebook took to social media to share that his Honda HR-V, which was left with the Suria KLCC mall valet, vanished when he wanted to retrieve the car half an hour later. He said that the according to the car’s GPS tracker, it was already in Subang.

Suria KLCC later released an official statement to explain their side of the story. The mall acknowledged that “a vehicle entrusted to the valet service was stolen despite being securely parked by the valet attendant”.

“Upon notification, we immediately launched a comprehensive investigation in cooperation with the authorities. Together with the police, we reviewed CCTV footage, which revealed that an unidentified individual entered the car and drove it away while the car key remained securely stored at the valet counter. Utilising our CCTV footage and the car’s GPS system, the suspect has since been apprehended,” the statement explained.

How did the thief get access to the car without the keys? It could have been a ‘relay attack’, a digital theft technique where criminals exploit vulnerabilities in keyless entry and start systems – here’s how a relay attack works. What can car owners do to protect our vehicles from these silent thieves? A vehicle telematics system might help locate a stolen car – Zach’s Honda HR-V likely had the Honda Connect system.

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