'Unbelievable and outrageous': Malaysian living in Singapore loses car after parking it with KL mall valet

One Malaysian found out that his car was missing after parking it with a shopping mall's valet service, who only managed to return the vehicle key to him.

Zach Khai Shin, who indicated in his Facebook profile that he is living in Singapore, shared a post on Sunday (July 7) about the baffling experience in Suria KLCC in Kuala Lumpur.

"The valet staff told me that he had locked and turned off its engine," said Shin. "But I want to know how it went missing."

In another Facebook post shared the next day, Shin said that he trusted the valet service with his Honda Vezel at 12.48pm as he did not want to waste time looking for a parking lot in the crowded mall.

After returning to the valet staff half an hour later, the latter told him that it was missing.

"I found it unbelievable and outrageous," said Shin, adding that he called the mall's manager and the police.

When the police arrived five minutes later, they questioned the two valet staff members on why the car was missing. But Shin was surprised that they did not have identification documents with them.

"I did not follow up on that because I had to go to the police station to lodge a report," he said. "At the same time, I called my friends to help look for the car."

Car found 30km away

While the car had mysteriously vanished, Shin said an Apple AirTag that he had placed in the vehicle managed to pick up its location. 

After driving more than 30 kilometres to a car park at a private property in Subang, his friends approached the property's security guard who told them that the suspected car thief was inside.

"The security guard told my friends that he was behaving very suspiciously," said Shin. "He refused to open the car window to register his entry into the property."

Shin said that his friends called the police after they saw the suspect standing on the driveway.

They later confirmed that the man was the car thief through footage from the mall's closed-circuit television cameras.

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Car thief incident 'unprecedented': KLCC

In a Facebook post, Suria KLCC said that the vehicle was stolen in its premises even though it was "securely parked" by the valet attendant.

"Upon notification, we immediately launched a comprehensive investigation in co-operation with the authorities," they said.

"Together with the police, we reviewed CCTV footage, which revealed that an unidentified individual entered the car and drove it away while the car key remained securely stored at the valet counter."

KLCC said that the suspect has since been arrested.

Describing the incident as "unprecedented", KLCC said that they will be reviewing and further strengthening the enforcement of our valet parking operator's standard operating procedures to prevent any future incidents.

How was the car stolen in broad daylight? 

But Shin questioned why his car was "so easily stolen" at a "famous tourist attraction" in Malaysia.

He said: "Can KLCC publicly share the CCTV footage to show how the car was stolen in broad daylight by car thieves in such a short period of time? We just want to know where the car was parked.

"I wasn't able to see the footage myself, so I couldn't confirm if the car was safely parked and how it was stolen."

Shin also wanted clarification on whether this incident was due to negligence from the valet service, and whether the mall management would be willing to offer compensation.

"It's fortunate that the car had an Apple AirTag, which allowed us to find the car within a short space of time," he said. "Otherwise, it would be fruitless even with the help of the police and KLCC."

AsiaOne has contacted Shin and KLCC for more information.

ALSO READ: Here's how to prevent your car or its parts from being stolen

chingshijie@asiaone.com