Express & Star

WATCH: Man tracks down own BMW after theft caught on camera

A Black Country man tracked down and recovered his own car after thieves stole it from his driveway as his young family slept upstairs.

Published
Last updated
The thieves opening the car

Mohammed Nazir was devastated when he woke in the early hours of Tuesday morning to see thieves driving his black BMW 335i xDrive away from his family home in Darlaston.

But 16 hours later he had traced the £20,000 vehicle to a car park four miles away thanks to help from nearby residents who saw an appeal he posted on social media with CCTV footage of the burglary.

And the footage - which shows two people climbing a wall and breaking into the house before driving the car away - may have even been viewed by one of the thieves, as Mr Nazir took an aggressive phone call from someone claiming to have his car before he found it in West Bromwich.

WATCH the CCTV footage here:

The BMW was stolen from the house in Kings Hill Close at around 1.30am on Tuesday and by 5pm the same day father-of-three Mr Nazir had found it in a small car park behind West Bromwich High Street.

One post on the Wednesbury Updates Facebook page was shared more than 300 times as nearby residents helped to track down the car.

Mr Nazir posted this photo of the car on social media in an effort to track it down

"Social media got the car back, my wife had put it all on their with my mobile number and it was spreading," 33-year-old Mr Nazir said.

"People were ringing me saying that they had seen it and I searched for hours to find it.

"I ended up finding it in a small car park behind the High Street, I found it myself and used my spare key, and as I drove off I called 101 and told the police I had it back.

"I took it straight to the garage and had the key de-coded, as the thieves still had it, and then had another key made.

Cigarette butt in the boot

"I found a fag butt in the boot and called 101 back, so hopefully they will come and collect it and get some DNA from it.

"People on social media led me to it and without them I wouldn't have found it, I drove all around the Black Country following people's tip-offs that they had seen it.

"I even got a call from the robber on a withheld number at one point and he was quite aggressive and threatening and said it's his car now, I offered him money for my own car.

"I think they called because it was all over social media at the time."

One of the thieves

Mr Nazir didn't hear the burglars break in but woke when the ignition started and the BMW's lights came on.

"I was half asleep and they came in, broke the back door lock and snuck in, I didn't hear anything but when the car lights came on it lit the whole driveway up and I saw them driving off," he said.

"At first I thought I was dreaming and then I realised what had happened.

"The police came and took a statement and after that I couldn't get back to sleep at all."

CCTV filmed at the house two people dressed in tracksuits climbing the a wall to get access to the back door, before hopping back over after taking the car keys.

The thieves climb right in front of the camera and look towards the lens before opening the car and reversing it off the drive.

'We can't sleep'

Mr Nazir said his children - aged eight months, five and eight - had been left scared by the ordeal but that he was relieved the burglars had not ventured upstairs.

"It was a shock for the family.

"We normally take the keys upstairs and put them somewhere safe but that night we left them downstairs.

"At first I was so disappointed but then thought that if the keys weren't downstairs, then the burglars would have come upstairs to find them and my kids could have been hurt, so maybe we were quite lucky.

The thieves getting into the car

"They know what's happened, they keep coming to me in the night and they're so scared.

"These people have no morals, to take my car is one thing, but to break into my house where my family is, it's disgusting, it's horrible.

"They need to be sent down for a long time, but if they are caught they will probably only get a few months.

"We're quite relieved we got it back but we're still jumpy and scared, we can't sleep, I keep getting up in the night to look at the cameras and make sure no one is around.

One of the thieves at the back door to the house

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "Police are investigating after a car was stolen following a burglary at an address on Kings Hill Close in Darlaston on Tuesday morning.

"The house was broken into through a rear door between 1am and 1.30am. Keys to a BMW were taken from inside the house and the car was driven off.

"The car was recovered in West Bromwich Tuesday night.

"Anyone with information can contact us via live chat at west-midlands.police.uk between 8am and midnight or call 101 anytime quoting 20WS/119856X/19."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.