CCTV footage captures thieves stealing car battery in seconds

A CCTV footage posted on Facebook showed the moment thieves stole a car battery in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

The footage from a hospital surveillance camera was posted on Facebook on 3 February by the car owner, Koko Udonquak, a journalist in Uyo.

Mr Udonquak stated in his post that he visited the hospital, which is at Edet Akpan Avenue (Four-lane), to have his son examined because his temperature had gone up, and that he parked his car by the roadside, near the hospital, since there was no more space at the hospital’s car park.

The CCTV footage shows a car pulled over in front of Mr Udonquak’s black-coloured Toyota Camry. A man wearing a red top quickly stepped out from the front passenger seat, put his hand beneath the car bumper, opened the bonnet, and pulled out the car battery within seconds. The thief got back into the car, with the engine apparently still on. They zoomed off.

“At about 7:30 p.m., when we were finally done (at the hospital) and about to go home, we came out to realise that our car battery was gone, just like that,” Mr Udonquak stated in the post.

“While I am somehow comforted that it was not the car that was stolen, it baffles me that someone?s boyfriend, brother, or even husband can have the courage to commit this kind of crime, not minding the consequences.

“He may have succeeded today, but someday, I can guarantee him, he will be caught.”

Mr Udonquak said that before he realised the battery had been stolen, he had been going out to check on the car to make sure it was safe.

“Please help me share this video till someone can identify these guys because I believe they?re known folks,” he stated.

The journalist later told PREMIUM TIMES that he was able to drive home that evening after his mechanic brought another battery for the car.

“But why I?m even so angry is this: why would a hospital have a CCTV camera, and yet they don’t have someone to monitor it to see what was happening outside? If someone had monitored the CCTV, they would have noticed the thieves, and this wouldn’t have happened,” he said to our reporter.

Residents of Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo, said there have been frequent cases of car battery theft in the estate and its neighbourhood, which includes Edet Akpan Avenue, where this incident occurred.

“If you must park your car by the road or out of sight, you must get someone to keep an eye on it for you,” a resident told our reporter. “It’s that bad.”

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CCTV footage captures thieves stealing car battery in seconds

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