Roosendaal’s Vincent Blok looked strange on Monday morning when he wanted to get into his car early in the morning. A ribbon was tied to the rim of his car. The other end of the tape was tied to his neighbor’s front door. And so he was with four other cars and front doors in the street. “These thieves knew exactly what they were doing.”
It was clear the thieves knew what they were doing. “The streetlights weren’t working and all the video doorbells were taped,” says Vincent. “The tapes ensured that people couldn’t open the front door if they wanted to go out. So it gave the perpetrators more time to escape.
Luckily, none of Vincent’s car was stolen. “I think my car is too old, they prefer to get parts from newer cars.” He finds it bizarre how the perpetrators got to work.
Neighbor Jeroen Scheepers was less fortunate. “When I walked out the door in the morning I saw that there was a jack under my car. I was very shocked by this. The catalytic converter on his BMW turned out to be sawn off. A catalytic converter is a component of the exhaust and is made up of precious metals such as platinum and palladium. So valuable and worth a lot of money in the criminal underworld.
“I’m so sorry. This is my first car.”
It means a lot to the 22-year-old. “I’m very sorry. This is my first car.” He is therefore afraid that his car will again be targeted by thieves if a new catalytic converter is installed. “I really don’t dare to park here anymore. I don’t know how I will do it in the future.” .
Replacing the stolen part costs a lot of money. “Almost two thousand euros, not all of which will be reimbursed by my insurer”.
Jeroen has to pay hundreds of euros out of his wallet to get his car fixed. Therefore he is one fund-raising started. “I hope this will largely cover the costs. Everyone always thinks: this will not happen to me. I thought so too. Unfortunately, it turned out differently.”
Jeroen reported this to the police, but unfortunately too few usable traces were found. “It’s a truly remarkable case,” a police spokesman said. “No other reports of similar events have been made so far. But if this happens more often, we hope it will be reported to us immediately.
