The brazen car thief who took a Toyota with two children in the backseat on Saturday afternoon, took off in a frenzy. This can be seen on dashcam images of a motorist who drove by at the exact moment of the car theft on the Dorpstraat in Borkel en Schaft.
These are bizarre images, exactly at one past four in the afternoon you can see how the gray all-terrain vehicle with canoes behind it is parked on the left of the road. Just as the driver with the dashcam has passed, the thief speeds away with the trailer full of canoes and two minor children in the backseat.
It then shows how the thief overtakes the motorist with a considerable speed difference on the narrow road. At that moment there are also many cyclists on the road where the ‘kidnapper’ speeds past. The Toyota driving in the direction of the Abdijweg quickly disappears from view. The trailer carrying the canoes bounces behind the gray SUV.
Found
Shortly after the theft, the police issued a call via Burgernet to look out for the car and the missing children. With success, because a little later the Toyota with a trailer containing canoes was found again on the Sporkenhoutlaan in Eindhoven. The children were still in it and nothing was wrong.
The thief allegedly got out and told the children to wait. When this took too long, the children started seeking help themselves. They spoke to a man on the street, who then called canoe rental company Rofra, says an employee of the company in Valkenswaard.
Unharmed
“The ‘kidnapper’ is said to have left the Toyota with the engine running. And the passerby wondered whether the canoes on the trailer came from Rofra, but that was not the case.” According to the employee, these are private canoe owners. The man informed Rofra that the children were very shocked, but that they were doing well.
The car with canoes could be taken from the Dorpstraat in Borkel en Schaft because the family was busy attaching the canoes to the trailer. At the location in question there is a drop-off point on the Dommel River for canoeists. It was precisely at that place and at that moment that the brutal car thief seized his opportunity.
Traumatic
A police spokesperson said it had been a ‘traumatic experience’ for the family. That is why it has not been announced how old the children are and where they come from. The car thief is still missing, despite a major search operation including a police helicopter and dogs on Saturday afternoon.
It concerns a man of approximately 50 to 60 years old with short gray hair. He is said to have walked around without a shirt and can be recognized by a large tattoo between his shoulder blades. The car was investigated for a long time by a forensic investigation team. The police are asking whether people with a dashcam or camera who filmed the all-terrain vehicle with canoes and the car thief would like to share those images.
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