The stolen vehicle recovery system, a device relatively new to Jamaica, reaped big dividends Friday when a car-stealing ring was unearthed off the Mountain View Avenue in Kingston.

King Alarm security guards tracking a stolen Toyota Hiace minibus with a “King Tracker” stolen vehicle recovery system, accidentally stumbled into the car-stealing operation at a small apartment complex at 4 Goodwill Avenue, opposite Stanton Terrace where the minibus was found. They then alerted the police.

On arrival, police also recovered a Honda Civic motor car licensed 8331 DX, a Mitsubishi Lancer licensed 4809 DS stolen on Friday, and a Toyota Starlet GTS licensed 9230 DN.

A search by the police of a second floor apartment, reported to be occupied by persons linked to the stolen vehicles, turned up a passport belonging to a soldier, four tyres and rims, car parts, several licence plates with one new pair still in the plastic bag, car keys, documents and lettering and numbering equipment for changing the engine numbers. The police also recovered car parts hidden under the stairwell.

“We just missed two suspects in a car,” Garth Williams, operations manager of King Alarm, told the Sunday Observer. “When we entered the premises, two men alleged to be occupants of the apartment, were leaving in a baby blue 1987 Toyota Starlet.”

A woman who fled the apartment, carrying a baby, came down the stairs while a number of policemen were on their way up the stairs to search the apartment, a policeman said.

King Alarm’s managing director, John Azar, told the newspaper that the tracking device in the minibus, stolen a week ago, had been tampered with, resulting in the delay of the recovery of the bus.

“The thieves attempted to disable the tracking device. But with the assistance of our German partners, we were able, by remote, to reactivate and reprogramme the device and again began receiving signals from the vehicle on Thursday evening. We recovered the vehicle on Friday, then summoned the police.” Azar said.

The King Tracker stolen vehicle recovery system uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) in partnership with the Digicel GSM network which transmits the co-ordinates, ultimately determining the position of the vehicle. King Alarm has a digitised road map of the island upon which the position of the vehicle is actually shown.