Stolen car returned to South African owner after 22 years

A South African man has been reunited with his car 22 years after it was stolen, thanks to a dogged police investigator. A Pretoria businessman, Derick Goosen on Monday said he got a surprised call from warrant officer Kwakwa Ntokola two weeks ago about a gray 1988 Toyota Corolla.

He said he had reported the car stolen back in 1993. Goosen said that only in 2014, police seized a vehicle at a roadblock in the northern province of Limpopo after noticing that its engine number had been scratched off. He said that the stolen car was returned to him after 22 years with everything inside still in perfect order.

“I can’t believe it, everything inside is still in perfect order. “I’m going to wash it and drive around in it.’’ Police Col. Ronel Otto said that Ntokola managed to reconstruct the number and eventually traced the owner to Pretoria.