oxxo - 6-29-2008 at 12:58 PM
This was reported on Trip Advisor Forum today
************************************************
A story from Tom Gatch, author of Hooked on Baja and also the guy who hosts the monthly fishing tournaments at the Rosarito Beach Hotel:
Sometimes, timing is EVERYTHING!
After leaving El Milagro, it was about 11:30am or so when we were passing through El Sauzel. I had just looked over to my left to drool as we drove by
El Trailero and I began to dream about their carne asada tacos and toasty, grilled jalapeños, when I turned my head back to the right and saw a dark
blue Izuzu Trooper with a halibut sticker on the bumper drive by us in the right lane. It was our trooper that had been stolen just a few weeks over a
year ago from the Pyramid Resort while we were attending a Baja author's book signing. As you can probably imagine, we totally freaked out! Lynn
quickly dug around in her purse for her cell phone, while I tried to remember the Baja emergency number (Let's see, 911, no that's in the U.S. Uh,
666? Nope, that's the sign of the devil. Ah, got it! ‘066’ ...THAT'S IT!)
The operator quickly passed me on to an English speaking officer who took down all the information and pulled up the previously filed theft report on
his computer. The guy in our car had absolutely NO idea what was going on as I followed him while talking to the police. After he passed Punta Morro
and we were able to determine that he was headed through the port instead of the road that takes you through the center of Ensenada, the officer
assured me that they would have a 'greeting party' ready for him by the time he made it up to the Pemex station ...and that they did! As soon as he
made that turn, police cars came flying out of practically every direction.
The driver of our Trooper was pulled wide-eyed from the vehicle with an automatic weapon in his face. Unlike similar situations in the U.S., the
suspect was not forced face down on the pavement, nor kicked, nor abused in ANY way. He was simply frisked, cuffed and escorted into the back of one
of the patrol cars. Their precision in execution and calm, professional demeanor was amazingly smooth. The 'take down' looked like something that had
been planned for weeks, not the 4 or 5 minutes that it actually took to coordinate their efforts. One of the English speaking officers told us that
they would expedite our drive to the police station with a special escort. They were extremely helpful and courteous as we waited for them to process
all of the theft and arrest reports; they told us that the guy in our car said that he had purchased it from someone, and they promised to follow up
on his source for acquiring the vehicle. In the meantime, they placed our Trooper in their impound unit cost free until we could get back to the U.S.
and bring down our title (which we had stopped carrying around a LONG time ago, thinking that it was a 'lost cause') so that they could release it
back to us. We are making a special trip down this Friday to do so, and we will drive it down to our place, pull it into the car port, put The Club on
it, cover it and then register and insure it in Mexico when we finally move down there full time in about 9 months.
Anyhow, if anyone you run into in the future happens to start bad-mouthing the police in Baja while reciting a bunch of U.S. media 'horror' stories,
you might want to relay this little tale to help mitigate their venom! ;-)))
Tomas & Lynn
MexicoGringoGuy - 6-29-2008 at 01:02 PM
That's wonderfull news!! Glad to hear the car was found and glad to know that the police acted in the fashion that they did!!
Great news all around!!
aha baja - 6-29-2008 at 01:09 PM
Congrats! I just love to hear success stories like yours!My two quads were stolen last year in california and were recovered 6 months later by CHP.
Now the guy has to pay me $2500 in restitution as part of his probation! Looks like we both lucked out BIG TIME! Keep us informed of the progress and
outcome of your recovery!
Bruce R Leech - 6-29-2008 at 01:11 PM
Wow that is a good story and it shows that things can go right sometimes here.
DENNIS - 6-29-2008 at 01:28 PM
Thanks oxxo...
This story was here a while back. Anybody have the link?
Found it.
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?fid=4&tid=316...
[Edited on 6-29-2008 by DENNIS]
oxxo - 6-29-2008 at 01:47 PM
Oooops, my bad. Story was posted on 5/31/08. Sorry about that, I was traveling at that time and missed it.
aha baja - 6-29-2008 at 06:38 PM
OOps i didn't read the whole story(my bad) still glad that somebody made out OK. Not the norm but the exception to the rule
805gregg - 6-29-2008 at 07:21 PM
I'm wondering why YOU have to find your own stolen car? Where are the police?