Singaporean nearly loses son after car was stolen
He left his seven-year-old son alone in his BMW for five minutes as he ran an errand while in Johor Baru.
When he returned, both the car and his son were gone.
He had to wait for what must have seemed like a lifetime, before he was reunited with his son, six hours later.
The boy was found unhurt about 6km away from where he was taken, reported Shin Min Daily News.
It all started at about 4pm last Saturday (Aug 20), when the man in his 50s left his son in the car while he went to buy milk powder.
The white BMW was parked in front of a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) shop at Taman Melodies, a suburb in Johor Baru.
Speaking to the Chinese daily, the TCM shopkeeper, known only as Mr Lee, 61, said the man went into the shop and bought two tins of milk powder worth RM180 (S$60).
He left after paying, but returned to change one of the milk powder tins.
When he left again after five minutes, he found that the Singapore-registered car was gone, along with his son in it.
Mr Lee told Shin Min that the man became flustered and borrowed his phone, attempting to call his own phone that he had left in the car.
But he could not get through.
He then called the Malaysian Police to make a report.
Pictures of the boy were uploaded on Facebook shortly after the boy and car went missing, with the posts asking others to look out for the boy.
The posts, put on behalf of the man, were widely circulated with at least 7,000 shares.
Mr Lee said the man told him that he had not locked the car doors.
Thankfully, the boy was found unhurt later that day, at about 10pm, around the Danga Bay area.
But the car has yet to be found.
The police confirmed that a police report of the incident was made.
Shin Min also spoke to workers in the Taman Melodies area, who said that the area was relatively safe, though people were still advised to be careful.
A photo of the boy after he was found was later uploaded to Facebook to show concerned netizens that he was safe.
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