‘Driver’ Thieves

[Anchor Lead]

Police have apprehended a pair of thieves targeting drunk people who fell asleep in their cars while waiting for their on-demand drivers. The offenders approached the victims by pretending to be the hired drivers and stole thousands of dollars in valuables. Take a look.

[Pkg]

On a road in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province, in the early morning hours of May 18th, a man can be seen approaching a parked car and briefly searching it through the windows. He then opens a door and steals money and other valuables. The car's owner is seen sleeping in the passenger seat after a night of drinking. According to a police investigation, a 53-year-old man and his accomplice targeted only drunk drivers who were asleep in their cars to steal expensive watches, mobile phones and other valuables. The pair is suspected of stealing articles worth roughly 25 million won this way in five separate occasions in multiple areas, including Ilsan, between May 13th and 24th. They pretended to be substitute or replacement drivers to approach the cars and checked on the victims to see if they were sober.

[Soundbite] (Victim (Voice modified)) : "I fell asleep while waiting for a substitute driver in the passenger seat. When I awoke, my watch and mobile phone were nowhere to be found. It was a tremendously strange situation."

In particular, they took advantage of the fact that drunk people wait for hired designated drivers in their cars at night with their doors unlocked and blinkers on.

[Soundbite] Kim Jong-wook(Gyeonggi Ilsan Seobu Police Station) : "Victims did not lock the doors of their cars, since they were asleep while waiting for substitute drivers. All doors remained open, making it easy for the offenders to commit crimes."

Police ask drivers to take extra caution, since they can be exposed to crimes if they are intoxicated and fall asleep in parked cars at night.