Man unknowingly watches his stolen Land Cruiser used in Northland shopping centre spree

As he watched footage of a Land Cruiser ploughing through Northland shopping centre, an Ivanhoe East man joked with his family that the vehicle could be his stolen 4WD. Then the cops called.

The owner of the stolen 4WD that ploughed through Northland joked with his family the vehicle was his as he watched the shocking scenes unfold on a TV news bulletin.

Shoppers were forced to run for their lives as the Toyota Land Cruiser sped through the Preston shopping centre about 4pm Wednesday, leaving a trail of destruction.

“I jokingly said to my family while watching it on TV… ‘that’s my car’,” he said.

“I recognised the wheels and the trim. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like my car because that model has got certain alloys on it that are different.”

The owner, who doesn’t want to be identified, said he was stunned when police called minutes later to tell him the vehicle that had sped just metres from terrified shoppers was in fact his.

“No more than half an hour later the police rang and said they’d found it,” he said.

The stolen Land Cruiser speeds through Northland. Picture: 7NEWS

Stunned shoppers watch on. Picture: 7NEWS

The wreckage left after the Land Cruiser smashed its way out of the shopping centre. Picture: Josie Hayden

Police allege an electronic key reprogramming tool was used to steal the car from outside the man’s home on King St in Ivanhoe East on June 2.

“It was taken from the street about 50m from my bedroom and I didn’t hear anything,” the man told the Herald Sun on Thursday.

“No alarm went off, nothing. Not only that, I had a steering wheel lock.”

The white 2016 Land Cruiser was found dumped on Wednesday afternoon on Beavers Rd in Northcote, about 6km away from Northland.

Police arrested a 27-year-old East Melbourne man at a Hoddle Street home about 8.30am on Thursday. He was charged with an array of offences including theft of a motor vehicle, driving whilst disqualified and reckless conduct endangering life.

The man said he had noticed a significant rise in car thefts in Ivanhoe East and surrounds.

“We’ve been living here for 25 years and lately it’s just crazy,” he said.

“Just in this street there’s been three car thefts.

“They want high-end cars if they can get them.”

It comes after new data released by the Crime Statistics Agency on Thursday revealed motor vehicle theft in Victoria was at its highest levels since 2002.

“More than one in five cars are stolen in circumstances where the owner reports retaining their keys,” a Victoria Police statement read.

“This has coincided with an increase in offenders using electronic devices capable of programming or mimicking keys to steal cars.

“Holdens, Toyotas, and Subarus with push start technology are the most targeted cars using this methodology.

“In the last month, these makes have been stolen at two to three times the rate of the previous five years.”

Police have urged owners of cars with push start technology, including Land Cruisers manufactured after 2012, to adopt “preventative measures” to deter thieves, such as an on-board diagnostic port lock, which prevents an offender connecting a reprogramming device to the car.