Police are urging food delivery drivers to kill their engines and lock their doors following a string of vehicle thefts over the weekend. In three separate incidents across the capital, opportunistic thieves drove off with cars left unsecured by couriers picking up or dropping off orders.
The most dramatic episode unfolded Saturday night in the Troja district. A courier left his vehicle idling outside a pizzeria, allowing a 35-year-old suspect to jump in and speed away.
Police tracked the car heading north on Liberecká Street, leading to a pursuit that spilled out of the city limits. The chase ended near the village of Líbeznice when the driver swerved off-road and became stuck in a field. Officers arrested the man, who tested positive for drugs, and he is now facing theft charges.
Sunday evening saw two more nearly identical crimes of opportunity. Just after 8 p.m. on Bílkova Street in the city center, a Škoda Octavia was stolen from outside a restaurant. It was found minutes later in Prague 8, crashed and abandoned, with damage estimated at 70,000 crowns.
Around the same time in Holešovice, a Toyota Yaris was taken from outside a business on Na Maninách Street. Police recovered the vehicle later that night on the city’s outskirts in Horní Počernice. Investigators are looking into whether the two Sunday thefts were committed by the same person.
Major Jan Daněk, a police spokesman, noted that while all three vehicles were eventually recovered, drivers shouldn’t rely on luck.
“We are asking drivers to properly secure their vehicles,” Daněk said. “All three cases have a ‘happy ending’ in that the cars were found, but that won’t always be the case.”
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