Cairns stolen cars: Big night for vehicle thefts in Far North Qld
A new Cairns resident celebrating her engagement while recovering from brain surgery has had a heartbreaking welcome to the city after her new Toyota CHR was stolen overnight.
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A new Cairns resident celebrating her engagement while recovering from brain surgery has had a heartbreaking welcome to the city after her new Toyota CHR was stolen overnight.
Sometime before 2am on Monday, thieves targeted Zac Lane and his fiancee Nin Van de Zand’s Redlynch unit after spotting the CHR hybrid in the carpark and likely matching the unit number to their front door.
Thieves allegedly used a pair of vice grips to crunch the door handle and sneak through the unit undetected before stealing a bowl containing car and house keys and then taking off with the car.
“We have an alarm on our back doors but it was the front door, I would not expect it as it would make too much of a noise,” he said.
“We woke up to the police banging on the bedroom door at 2am.
“You feel violated, and you are a hard working person and the car is gone, they are walking in your house when you are asleep.”
It has been a challenging year for Mr Lane and his fiancee Nin who is recovering after two bouts of brain surgery to remove a tumour.
A day before the car was taken the couple had got engaged to be married during an outing to Palm Cove.
“She has had so much bad luck and we got the car to brighten up her year and this happens, it just makes me sick,” he said.
“When they are stealing stuff they don’t know what happens behind those doors.”
The car has been spotted numerous times across Cairns driving dangerously and was reportedly almost involved in a head-on crash on Sondrio St in Woree at 6.47am.
“I was born and raised in Cairns and moved to the Gold Coast seven years ago and just moved back, I knew it as a lovely place but crime has gotten so out of control, it’s quite concerning,” he said.
“We are happy that we have not been hurt but we would feel terrible if they crashed into someone and hurt them.”
So far this month 17 vehicles have been stolen throughout Cairns to make a total of 283 car thefts for 2025.
At the end of April 2024 a total of 49 vehicles were stolen in a 10 per cent increase on the 54 cars taken during April this year.
A Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line with number plates TKA97 was also stolen from Redlynch in the early hours of Monday morning.
A Ford Ford was also taken from Parramatta Park and two cars were taken from Edmonton in a busy few days for Cairns car thieves.
On Monday afternoon police recovered the stolen CHR but the car was defaced with scratches and gang signs throughout.
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Originally published as Cairns stolen cars: Big night for vehicle thefts in Far North Qld
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