Drunk car thief returns stolen vehicle with apology note and gifts for the owner

A New Zealand café owner was shocked to see his stolen Holden ute returned days later at the same car park where he left it.

A New Zealand café owner was left in disbelief after seeing his stolen vehicle returned four days later at the same car park where he left it before going to work.

Varun Chada, owner of Kati Street in Auckland reportedly finished work at 2:00pm on 15 November 2023 when he noticed his Holden Colorado was missing after heading back inside the restaurant to grab something.

After obtaining his neighbour’s security camera footage, an unidentified man can be seen allegedly taking the vehicle and driving off.   

In a surprising twist of events, Mr Chada was shocked to see the car reappear, with a handwritten apology and new toys for his child inside the vehicle.

The suspected car thief claimed he was “drunk and needed a ride home” before returning the vehicle to the owner.

Mr Chada said there was no damage to the car and none of his property was stolen, much to his surprise.

“They took the tent off but they put the tent back on. They could’ve stolen the tent and some other stuff but it’s all in there,” he said to the New Zealand Herald.

“I’m not condoning what they did is fine, but I mean, they gave it back and they said sorry so, I don’t know, I’m just stoked to get back, put it that way.”

Mr Chada claimed posting to Facebook helped the recovery of his stolen vehicle.

“Lots of customers shared it [the post] when it went missing … I think social media definitely helped me get it back as well,” he said in a media statement.

Though the vehicle was safely returned back to the owner, a police spokesperson allegedly told media they were still investigating the event.

“Despite the return of this stolen vehicle to its owner, police are continuing to investigate the theft, and are following positive lines of inquiry,” they said in a previous media statement.

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