/ 24 June 2008

Stolen car found in ‘living room’

Tracker recovery crews and police found a new hiding place for stolen vehicles when they discovered a hijacked car inside what appeared to be the living room of a house in Spruitview, Germiston, Tracker spokesperson Gareth Crocker said on Tuesday.

He said a stolen bakkie was tracked to the house on Monday, but when police inspected the house they also found a second vehicle parked inside what appeared to be a fake living room.

”From the outside, the living room appears to be part of the front of the house and seems totally normal, complete with modern windows and curtains. But inside, the entire wall is built on a hinge mechanism which is able to swing open, like a large barn door, allowing vehicles to be driven inside,” Crocker said.

The vehicle, a Toyota RunX, had been linked to a recent hijacking case in Germiston.

”Over the years we’ve recovered vehicles from a number of weird places — parked in holes underground, next to large electrical generators, wrapped in tin foil, painted in tribal muti, and even one case last year where the vehicle was being stripped in the back of a moving truck.

”However, a fake living room with a wall on a hinge is a first for us,” Crocker said. — Sapa