Bank details help police track thieves

An arrest was made on Friday night after a card transaction at a Manurewa service station and another in Clevedon gave away the stolen cars route. Photo / Thinkstock

Car converters chased after vehicle owner learns of unauthorised cash withdrawals.

A car stolen as its owner was praying at a South Auckland mosque is believed to have crashed in a police chase after unauthorised bank withdrawals gave away its route.

Clendon Park carpet worker Irfan Mirza is impressed by police detective work, which ended in an arrest on Friday night, but disappointed that his uninsured car may be too damaged to drive.

He was last night waiting to see what condition his 1998 Nissan Bluebird has been left in, and to recover items from it such as his 11-month-old son's car seat and stroller.

Mr Mirza, who migrated from India a year and a half ago after hearing that New Zealand was a safe country, said it appeared the thief had stolen another vehicle before running low on petrol and abandoning it near where his car was parked in Brett Ave, Puhinui - just around the corner from at-Taqwa mosque.

"The other car had its motor running, and lock and glass broken," he said.

Because he had left his wallet in his car, he decided to check his bank balance on his phone and found his account in overdraft, having been drained of about $85. When he called his bank, he was told of two transactions - at a Manurewa service station at 2.16pm, and another in Clevedon 21 minutes later. As he was talking to the bank, his brother-in-law was on the phone to police, relaying details of the car's movements.

The pair were surprised and pleased to hear on Friday night that the car had been found, but disappointed to be told it had crashed.

Mr Mirza's brother-in-law, who wanted to be known only as Rasheed, said they were told there had been a high-speed car chase but were not told where. He gathered from the police there might have been more than one person in the stolen car, and feared initially that the occupants would have ended up in hospital. But he said the police told him "No, in jail".

An officer in charge of the case, who has been off duty over the weekend, could not be reached to provide more details.

Mr Mirza said that when he visited the Counties-Manukau police station on Saturday, he was told the driver of his stolen car had been arrested.

Asked whether the theft had altered his view of New Zealand, he said: "To some extent it is safe, but crime can happen anywhere."