Wembley family has two Mercedes SUVs worth £140,000 stolen in 60 seconds – as keyless car theft goes into overdrive
The brand new Mercedes GLE costs over £65,000, while the GLS starts from more than £73,000 on-the-road
A FAMILY had both their brand new Mercedes SUVs stolen from outside of their Wembley home overnight – as keyless car thieves continue to exploit the technology.
The cars, worth nearly £140,000 and bought less than six months ago, were driven away in under a minute.
Taking place just after 2am, 57-year-old Mohammed Tuma, his wife and son were asleep at the time of the relay attack on November 20.
Shocking security footage shows a masked man waving a signal boosting device near the front door of the Alington Crescent house near Wembley, north-west London.
A white GLS – which Mercedes sells from over £73,000 – is driven away by an accomplice in just a few quick seconds.
The dark blue GLE, that retails from £65,000 on-the-road, takes slightly longer to unlock before driven off by a third thief.
Tuma’s son Ali, a 27-year-old restaurant worker, said: “I got up at 7am and realised that the cars had gone so I thought that my parents were both out.
“Just to make sure I rang them and checked, but they were both in bed to my amazement. It was at that point that alarm bells started to ring.
“So I told my parents and we checked our home CCTV – which looks onto the drive – and shockingly my worst fears came true; the cars had been stolen. The relay technique was most certainly used here.
“My family is fuming. We have had the cars for less than six months. I just can not believe it, but when you see the footage they are more or less stolen in the space of a minute.
“The whole experience has been extremely shocking and upsetting. We really hope that we get our cars back.”
Keyless car crime has been branded as an “epidemic” by David Jamieson, West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, as thefts surge since the introduction of the flawed tech.
The devices used for the so-called-relay attacks cost less than £100 to put together – with vital components easily bought off eBay and electrical stores. However, online sites are openly selling them for as much as £15,000.
Countless incidents have been caught on home cameras, however, vehicle recovery rate stands at an worrying five per cent – with policing getting worse.
Meanwhile, the only solution manufacturers are providing is advice to encase car fobs into signal-blocking Faraday cases.