A father turned detective to help police catch the thief who stole his luggage – only for him to be released because of ‘insufficient evidence’.
Four suitcases, collectibles and clothes worth £10,000 were stolen from Vishal Patel’s secure unit at a Shurgard storage facility.
Fortunately, the 43-year-old had hidden Apple AirTag trackers in the cases which allowed him to follow their whereabouts, and he embarked on a daring chase around London to get them back.
He eventually traced his belongings to a yellow van and phoned the police. Officers found one of his distinctive white Samsonite cases in the back of the van and arrested the driver on suspicion of handling stolen goods and possession of a flick knife.
Mr Patel provided detectives with the locations of the other air tags but was astonished to receive a letter three weeks later which said the suspect had been released without charge because he was ‘not found to be in possession of the stolen items’.
‘That obviously isn’t true at all because this guy was caught with my suitcase in his van,’ the father-of-two said. ‘It defies belief. This was literally an open goal.
‘The police are either not doing their jobs because they are lazy, or they are just incompetent.’
Mr Patel realised his £158-a-month storage unit in Hatch End, north-west London, had been raided when he went to the facility to store a chair on December 9. He said there was no sign of forced entry.
Criminals stole four suitcases, collectibles and clothes worth roughly £10,000 from Vishal Patel’s (pictured) secure unit at a Shurgard storage facility
Mr Patel was able to track his stolen goods across London with a hidden air tag
‘The police are either not doing their jobs because they are lazy, or they are just incompetent.’
Mr Patel first realised his £158-a-month storage unit in Hatch End, north-west London, had been raided on December 9 when he went to the facility to store a fold-up chair.
He said there was no signs of forced entry and the Shurgard padlock – which the organisation insists its customers use – was intact but appeared to be looser than usual.
He reported the break-in to the company and to police, then checked the air tag app which revealed one was in Paddington, west London, one in West Ham, east London, and another was driving around the A40.
Some of the tags showed multiple trips shuttling to and from the same Shurgard storage facility, he added.
Mr Patel then began a dramatic two-day chase across the city.
The corporate headhunter, from Harrow, north-west London, hopped into his car and drove to Sheldon Square in Paddington, where a tag indicated his luggage was.
‘I ended up going into an underground car park where the tag was supposed to be, tapping on someone’s window and asking if I could check his boot for my bags,’ he said.
The van that Mr Patel traced his belongings to before phoning the police
Sheldon Square in Paddington, where an AirTag indicated his luggage was
Mr Patel provided detectives with the locations of the other air tags but was astonished to receive a letter three weeks later which said the suspect had been released without charge
He reported the break-in to the company and the police, then checked the AirTag app.
It revealed one was in Paddington, west London, one in West Ham, east London, and another was being driven around the A40.
Some of the tags showed multiple trips shuttling to and from the same Shurgard storage facility, he added.
Mr Patel then began a dramatic two-day chase across the city.
The corporate headhunter, from Harrow, north-west London, drove to Sheldon Square in Paddington, where a tag indicated his luggage was.
‘I ended up… tapping on someone’s window and asking if I could check his boot for my bags,’ he said. ‘He let me have a look but sadly they weren’t in there, so it was back to the drawing board.’
The following day, the tags were in Colindale, north-west London, so Mr Patel drove to the area and took photos of every vehicle parked nearby, including a large yellow van, and sat in his car for two hours.
‘Then the tags began to move, and I saw this yellow van had gone,’ he said.
Mr Patel followed the vehicle back to a road near the Shurgard lock-up and phoned the police, with a patrol car arriving just as two men returned to the van.
Officers searched the men, who appeared to be eastern European, and found one had £8,000 in cash as well as a flick knife.
The Met Police headquarters at New Scotland Yard. A spokesman from the Metropolitan Police said: ‘On December 11, a 36-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of theft and possession of a bladed article after the victim provided information from a tracking device on the suitcases’
‘They open the back of the van and literally right there in front of my face, was my distinctive white Samsonite case,’ Mr Patel said.
The suspect’s driving licence showed he lived in Sheldon Square. Mr Patel was assured that the man’s home would be searched promptly and he was likely to be charged shortly.
‘Two weeks later, the AirTag in Paddington stopped working,’ he said. ‘The battery should last between two and three years – so this indicates someone found it and destroyed it.’
On January 3, Mr Patel received a letter which said the investigation had been closed because ‘when officers arrested the suspect, they were found not to be in possession of the stolen items’.
‘This is just a lie,’ Mr Patel said. ‘My stolen case was literally inside the van, and it was returned to me.
‘We caught him red-handed and they just let him go. I did most of the work for them and they have still blown it.’
The Metropolitan Police said: ‘Following inquiries, including a Section 18 search of the arrested man’s property, the investigation was filed with him facing no further action. This was due to there being insufficient evidence.’
Shurgard was contacted for comment.
