Auckland café owner’s stolen ute returned with apology letter

A café owner from Auckland was shocked to see that his stolen ute had been returned to the very same spot it was taken from a few days later, accompanied by an apology letter and some toys for his son.

Varun Chada, who owns Kati Street café in Glen Eden, had just finished work on the afternoon of 15 November 2023 and hopped in his Holden Colorado before heading back inside the business to retrieve something. When he returned to where he had parked his ute, which he had left running with the keys inside, it was nowhere to be found.

Just four days later, Chada showed up to work where he found his vehicle in the exact same place it was stolen from without any damage.

The thief had even left a sorry letter which said: “Hey man, brought your truck back. Sorry mate, was drunk and needed a ride home. Left your keys locked in truck. Here’s a lil something for your baby. Thank you and sori [sorry].”

As if that wasn’t enough, they had also left a few toys in the back seat for Chada’s son. The only items missing from the ute were the number plates and a quarter tank of fuel.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Chada told the New Zealand Herald. “No damage to the car. They took the [rooftop] tent off but put the tent back on the car.”

“I’m not condoning what they did is fine but, I mean, they gave it back and they said sorry. I’m stoked to get it back, let’s put it that way.”

The New Zealand Police is currently undertaking forensic testing in the hopes of identifying the “courteous” thief.

Chada said that a vital component of having the stolen ute returned was social media, where he reported the news to his business Facebook page and local community groups.

“Lots of customers shared it when it went missing and kept an eye out for it as well, so I think that social media definitely helped me get it back.”