Students paid up to RM8,000 to steal cars

By YIP YOKE TENG

 

SOURCE: http://www.star-motoring.com/News/2011/Students-paid-up-to-RM8,000-to-steal-cars.aspx 

  PETALING JAYA: College and secondary students, lured by easy money, are being used by syndicates to steal cars.

The students are paid between RM300 and RM500 for every car stolen and some can even earn up to RM8,000 a month.

Wayward students tailing the driver of the vehicle they want to steal. - Photos posed by models.

A source, who runs a car workshop, said the students were responsible for tailing vehicles after the car keys were duplicated by operators of workshops, car wash, valet parking and towing services cooperating with the syndicates.

He said only the bolder ones were asked to steal the cars.

In most cases, they were given about an hour to drive the vehicles straight to the port where containers were waiting to ship them overseas. A batch of shipment normally carries six cars and they can ship off 30 to 50 cars a month.

The youngsters also drive the vehicles to designated workshops where the parts are disassembled immediately.

“It is not difficult to penetrate into schools and colleges. The amount is attractive to the youngsters, who are either from poor families or are hooked on a lavish urban lifestyle,” he said, according to a Star Metro report.

“But in many cases, the boys do it for the excitement. To be able to steal a car within minutes, avoid police road blocks and send the vehicles within the stipulated time to the destination is a challenge that gives them the adrenaline rush,” he added.

The source advised the public to be watchful when they leave their car keys to the outlets because many of them were working closely with the ring.

He said there were many car theft syndicates in the Klang Valley and one could have a pool of up to 50 students at their disposal but their parents had no clue about what their children are up to.

He added that this trend of roping in students had been going on for about 10 years.

“Training” is provided and the “trainers” would sometimes disguise as policemen to assess how the youngsters react in critical situations. Some students are involved as soon as they obtain their driving licence.

“The students are given the plate numbers of the cars and they work in groups to reduce risks. They are usually asked to follow the drivers for about a week, not only to see the drivers’ patterns, but also to make sure that no other syndicates are eyeing the same car. Clashes between syndicates can lead to bloodshed,” he said.

Make sure you station yourself at the car wash and be watchful of the operators when your car is in someone else’s hand.

The smarter students or the expert car thieves then take over from there. According to him, they can fetch the highest commission of RM30,000 with Toyota Harrier, as this model has a high demand in the Middle East. Toyota Hilux, Honda Civic and Toyota Camry as well as other four-wheeled-drive vehicles from Japan.

“European cars are not in high demand in the black market,” he said.

He did not know how many car theft syndicates there were but said many used a legal and successful car dealer who sold expensive cars as a front.

Besides using duplicate keys, the syndicates also use tailor-made circuit boards costing up to RM20,000 each to steal vehicles. “The technology is amazing. The car is unlocked, alarm system crippled and engine activated within minutes simply by scanning the circuit board over it,” he said.

From his observation, Subang Jaya, Serdang, Cheras and Kuala Lumpur are the hottest spots with the many shopping centres and commercial districts in these areas.

The culprits often avoid small towns such as Kajang because the residents know one another.

The students will not stay long with the syndicates. “Most of them will leave after they’ve earned enough,” he said.

Not all are lucky enough to escape, though. Some of them even lost their lives in the violent rivalry among the syndicates. He had heard at least 10 cases in five years about students beaten to death when trying to steal a car, because other thieves also wanted it.

As a result, some thieves would pretend to be hurt and sought help from strangers to drive the car for them. In fact, they are looking for scapegoats. “That’s the scariest part of the whole operation,” he said.

When contacted, Subang Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Zainal Rashid Abu Bakar and Cheras OCPD Assist Comm Mohan Singh said they had not received any report on car thefts involving students, and that the rate of car theft was not alarming in the areas.

Serdang OCPD Supt Abdul Razak Elias said there were a few cases of car thefts involving school dropouts aged between 16 and 18, who had been apprehended. 

Six men arrested, stolen car and lorry parts seized

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have crippled a syndicate specialising in stealing cars, stripping their parts, storing and reselling them as spare parts in the Klang valley, Malacca and Johor, after arresting six men in two separate operations.

Police also recovered 1,603 components and engines worth a staggering RM5mil during the raid while seven vehicles were also detained.

Bukit Aman CID Director Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin said during the first raid on April 8, two men in their 30s were arrested after inspecting three stores in Batu Berendam and Durian Tunggal, Malacca.

"Six cars reported stolen in the Klang valley and a lorry reported stolen in Johor were also seized," he told reporters here Monday.

He said the second raid was carried out a day later in Johor and involved a store, two shops selling spare parts and two houses while four men in their 30s were detained.

Mohd Bakri said with the arrests, police would be able to solve 250 car theft cases involving Waja, Wira, Iswara and Hicom lorries.

He said the modus operandi of the syndicate was to steal cars or lorries and hide them at stores before stripping them of their parts before selling the parts at a lower price.
 -Bernama

Monday, April 11, 2011

TRUE STORY: I Sold Everything for a Lamborghini And Drive Across USA

I Sold Everything To Buy A Lamborghini And Drive Across The Country

Richard Jordan had everything he was told to want: cars, a new house, and a fiancee. Then his fiancee left him. So he sold everything, bought a Lamborghini Gallardo and set out across America. This is his amazing story.
This is a love story, but not a conventional one. Sure, there's a woman. There always is. But it's when the woman split that the real romance began. This is the story of Richard Jordan, a man who lost love and then found it again in an exotic Italian sports car and the open American road. Jordan's journey would take him across the country and back again multiple times as he racked up nearly 100,000 miles on a car so expensive, most owners rarely drive at all.

Independence Day

It was early 2006 and Richard's version of the American Dream lay crumbling at his feet. After giving his girlfriend of five years a ring and a house in suburban North Texas — purchased with the proceeds from selling his business, his old house and a few of his cars — she left him.
"I bought us the house and planned on moving in and, as soon as I did, she left," explains Richard. "So I got stuck in a house I didn't want, in an area I didn't want to be in... it was kind of emotionally traumatic. So I bought the car and wandered around."
It wasn't actually as easy as that. No one wanted to buy his new house so he was stuck with it. It took him months to sell the rest of his possessions and he used this money to afford a $75,000 down payment on a Lamborghini Gallardo — one of the most expensive vehicles on the market.

The Gallardo is named for a famous Spanish bull and unleashes a massive 512 HP through its mid-mounted V10. Its sharp looks hint at the performance: 0-to-60 mph in just 4.0 seconds with a top speed of 195 mph for the model Jordan purchased. The price? A steep $180,000 at the time of purchase.
After locating the right model and arranging the financing he picked up his black Lamborghini Gallardo Coupe from Lamborghini of Ohio. The date? July 4th, 2006.
Independence Day was an almost intentionally ironic choice, as he picked that day to separate from everything he'd created but now no longer wanted, including the house.
"I'd become a prisoner to my house, to everything, to my fantasy of an American Dream or anything I could remotely call home."

"I'm Not Moby"

With one of the fastest cars in the world but nowhere to take it, Jordan just started driving. For more than a year he wandered from place to place, living in motels and making new friends. He'd cross the United States three times and make trips from Ohio to Colorado to Texas to North Carolina on just a night's rest.
"It was just a feeling that I didn't really have a home, there was no place to safely be but the Lambo. That was the one thing that felt like it worked for me."

He visited the ghost towns and big cities and retraced childhood trips. As soon as he'd settle down somewhere he'd get the itch to move and pack up to drive somewhere else. He had trouble paying for the house in Dallas — his one remaining possession he couldn't shake — and was burning through what cash he had to afford gas. He almost lost the house numerous times.
"I have a few hundred grand against me, I don't like debt, but I'm used to it," Richard says. "I've accumulated a lot and paid it back several times in my life."
His wanderings yielded as much joy and humor as they did introspection and isolation, including a trip to strip club in Ohio where Richard, then 32, was mistaken for Moby by an a waitress who was convinced he was the musician because of his shaved head, glasses and fancy car.
"This girl comes up and was a waitress and she's like 'You're Moby, aren't you?' and I said 'I'll be anyone you want me to be,' and she took it as 'I'm Moby.'"
Richard is not Moby, but he's also not completely against accepting free bottles of champagne when offered.
"It was just ridiculous, the manager's like kissing my butt, I maybe spent $100 the whole night and it was just really, really silly and absurd."

"It was just like The Blues Brothers!"

Driving across the country in a Lamborghini means occasionally driving above the speed limit. Richard's honest about his desire to go fast and has a drawer full of 53 tickets to prove it. But it wasn't speed, exactly, that landed him in the handcuffs of an Indiana State Trooper.
Though generally jumping from hotel room to hotel room, Richard did have family responsibilities like serving as the best man in his cousin's wedding. While en route to the wedding he was stopped for speeding but ran afoul of the Indiana State Police and suddenly found himself staring down the highway at a roadblock.
Because his car's registration was one-day expired the troops were able to search the car and found a handgun.
"I don't travel without guns, I've been in too many situations so I always carry one or two guns with me," Richard says. "A car like that is an assault on the senses, and you could be in a decent area and just be barraged by people and you never knew who you're dealing with."
At first he didn't grasp the gravity of the situation — the police thought he was moving drugs — so his calm demeanor and jokes about hating the town he was in and a general Blues Brothers schtick didn't go over well. They kept him in the back of a squad car for four hours, eventually releasing him on his own recognizance when they realized they weren't able to drive the car on the back of a flatbed without his help.
He eventually got the car back and the charges settled, but the whole endeavor cost him $25,000 in fines, travel, and legal fees.

91,807 Miles

Most people don't use their expensive cars as daily drivers exactly because they're so expensive. The highest mileage of any Lamborghini Gallardo for sale on eBay Motors is 38,835 for a 2004 model, but the majority of vehicles are below 10,000 miles.

In his trips across the country Richard managed 91,807 miles.

"I can't afford to buy something like that and drive it on the weekend," Richard explains. "The difference between being materialistic and not is when you use what you have."
For him, it's a better value to drive it given the immediate drop in value for a used Lamborghini. It's even strange for him that others think otherwise.
"No one is concerned with anything as long as Starbucks and the mall is open. It baffles me. It overwhelms me actually. You can have something that's as extreme as a Lamborghini — that's perfect in a sense — and it has no value once you use it."

All that driving does have a price and now the car has even less value. After all the hard driving and long miles, the timing chain stretched, crunching the valves and turning the car into an exotic and expensive paperweight. The car is now worth less than he owes on it and the bank refuses to grant him another loan.
"For me, it's wasteful not to use it. That's anything. It doesn't matter if it's a fucking dishwasher," says Richard. "That's not really socially acceptable. It's not the way we're programmed... most people don't live like I do. I'd eat ramen noodles to pay for gasoline, just to avoid the monotony of being stuck in four walls."
Considering the traumatic experience that led him to buy the car, its destruction doesn't seem to burden him too much.
"It worked everyday, it worked like it was supposed to, it never broke down," Richard assures me. "It exceeded all my expectations."
He's using his sudden lack of transportation not as the end of one journey but as the start of a new one, setting up a shop in Dallas where he plans to build custom motorcycles and superbikes. He has plans to repair the engine or swap in a new one once he can afford it, but for now it makes an interesting sculpture to show friends and prospective customers in the main room of his new office. Richard's also met a girl, but he's trying to take it one step at a time.
His Lamborghini may no longer run, but Richard doesn't regret the decisions he's made. He adopts a zen-like tone that clashes with his mohawk while explaining how lucky he was to be able to leave everything behind and experience something many fantasize about but almost no one has the balls to actually do.
"You're never going to live up to anyone's expectations, so you might as well live up to your own and for me that's to be as free as you can. And if money doesn't buy you freedom then it's useless."
We couldn't agree more.





End of a TRUE STORY.  That's all folks, thanks for having the time and patience to read this blog entry.


SOURCE:
http://jalopnik.com/5559767/i-sold-everything-to-buy-a-lamborghini-and-drive-across-the-country?skyline=true&s=i