KUANTAN: A car thief who arrived at a petrol station at Semambu near here on a stolen motorcycle yesterday coolly drove off with a red Honda City with a senior citizen seated inside.
The 66-year-old victim, who was in the front passenger seat, was dropped off some 400m from the petrol station before the lone suspect sped away during the 3.10pm incident.
The suspect's brazen act was captured by a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera at the petrol station and the 55-second video has gone viral on social media.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Wan Mohd Zahari Wan Busu said the incident unfolded when the victim along with her 77-year-old husband and 38-year-old daughter had stopped at the petrol station to refuel and use the washroom.
"The victim and her husband had gone to the washroom while their daughter was refuelling the car. The daughter later parked the car near the toilet before her mother returned to the vehicle.
"Her daughter left the ignition switched on while she walked to the nearby toilet. Seconds later, she heard her mother screaming for help and saw someone driving the car away with her mother still inside," he said in a statement today.
Wan Zahari said the car thief dropped the elderly victim off some 400m away from the petrol station and she escaped unhurt.
He said investigations revealed prior to the incident, the suspect rode a Honda EX-5 motorcycle to the petrol station before parking it and making his way towards the Honda City.
"He got behind the wheel and drove off. The motorcycle had a fake registration number and checks revealed it was reported stolen in Kuantan," he said, adding that the case was being investigated under Section 379A of the Penal Code for vehicle theft.