I didn’t write this post and I don’t have an online source to attribute it to. It was sent to me by someone I know very well. The writing style is quite intense and very typically white African. It’s an interesting story and a good reminder to fire up your ‘Find My iPhone/Pad/Macbook’ App if you run an Apple device.

By Marc Tison

I did a whirlwind tour of Gauteng chasing after my iPad in a squad car with cops. If it was not for some good simple smart technology gadgets, the day would never have ended the way it did.

I had checked in at the Lynwood Townlodge and was enjoying a good breakfast with some of my work colleagues, when I suddenly looked up and noticed our two laptop bags were gone from where we had placed them right next to us. I had my iPad and wallet in mine – no laptop. My colleague had his iPad and laptop.

I immediately retrieved my iPhone and activated Find iPhone, which is a really smart Apple App that lets you trace any Apple device including your iPad. The first thing I did was to send a remote PIN block to the iPad. This prevents the iPad from being switched off.  Really important if you want to keep the trace active. The only thing would be thieves can do to stop the tracing is to remove the SIM, but that is not so straight forward.

Very soon, I had a trace running and was able to see, to my  dispair, my iPad move away from the hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel had no security cameras and cars can come and go without needing to be signed in or registered. This made the hotel and ideal criminal target and I soon realised I was simply another statistic.

The hotel security arrived ten minutes later, but could do little. Everyone simply suggested I claim from my insurance. The problem was my iPhone in my hand, was blinking and showing me the traced iPad. I had to do something and giving up was not an option.

The hotel’s maintenance manager, Johan, was prepared to take his car and follow the trace. I agreed and hopped into his car. At this stage the trace was showing up on the R24 travelling south. I suggested we follow the trace to the highway until we could flag down a police patrol car.

Soon we were racing along the R21 as fast as a Nissan Ute can go. Suddenly we were in luck and a patrol car passed us. We followed and started flashing. A police woman pulled over. I explained the situation and showed her the trace. She suggested I jump in the car and so we were soon speeding along after the illusive iPad. Unfortunately, she had to stop as we had travelled outside her jurisdiction. She then suggested we go to the nearest One Stop as there would be squad cars and they would be able to go anywhere (with permission from their captain). The maintenance guy from the hotel had managed to follow and so I hopped back into his car and we crossed the freeway back to the One Stop. There we found a squad car and some very helpful policeman.

I again showed the police the trace I had on the iPad and they got visibly excited like a pack of wild dogs. “Ons kan hulle vang!” At this stage the iPad was travelling very fast on the R21 towards Johannesburg. The guys in the squad car then decided I should drive with them. Five minutes later we had crossed the highway again (I still cannot recall how this all happened), and we were on our way following the  iPad trace to Johannesburg with blazing lights and screaming sirens. I have never travelled in a car faster than 160 km/h before in my life – near Laingsburg once. The speedo was clocking 260km/h and nudging upwards. I closed my eyes and prayed.

As we passed Johannesburg International, the iPad suddenly stopped moving. It was stationary near Bruma Lake in Johannesburg. The policeman were excitedly yapping: “Today we will make an arrest!”.

However, as we got into Bruma, the iPad moved again into the suburbs and town section. The policeman said they did not know the area at all and needed to call in for back-up. They used their radio, but no-one seemed to respond. For a moment it seemed like the only option was for us to give up and turn back.

I suddenly had an idea. I switched to my Tom-Tom GPS app on my iPhone and typed in the street address where the iPad had stopped. The Lady on the GPS said “turn left at the next intersection”. The two policemen were amazed. Both burst out laughing like hyenas in the dark and asked me what else I had. Soon we were heading towards the spot where my iPad had stopped with the iPhone commanding every metre of the way until finally: “You have reached your destination!”.

We were cruising down Derrick Avenue just off Martia Street above Bruma and driving right passed the blinking iPad. The street is a little Chinatown between Bruma and Hillbrow. The squad car stopped and we climbed out. The trace indicated the iPad was in one of the Chinese shops just after the turn into Derrick Avenue. The two policeman started asking the locals questions. In particular, whether any of the cars parked there had arrived recently. “No Englis…no speak any Englis”, is all they got. We walked up and down the street peering into the cars. Nothing.  One policeman explained that unfortunately some police had in the past treated the Chinese badly and so they lacked trust in the police. I kept thinking…”Chinese mafia all about.”

I was convinced the iPad was in one of the stores, because it kept blinking above the shops. Eventually, I asked the policeman whether we could go into each store and look around without a search warrant.  He did not answer me – just started walking into the first store and asking about for the iPad.  “No speak Englis”. We moved out and were walking towards the second store, when suddenly a local car guard said he just saw a suspicious guy walking up Martia road with a black laptop bag. The policeman said I should follow him.

We ran back to the squad car and jumped in. He turned the car around and went back the way we came and away from Derrick street towards Bruma travelling down Martia. He suddenly swerved in front of a house with 6 feet high security fencing and parked at the gate. Several attempts to get a response by blowing his horn and shouting to someone in the house failed. I asked him why we were doing this and he said they saw someone enter the property with black bags. No one answered.

Just then, I noticed the iPad had moved again. I told the policeman, I was sure someone was moving the iPad. It had not moved for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Suddenly it was stationery across the road from the shops.

We quickly returned. This time I was able to switch on the satellite view and could pinpoint that the iPad was stored in one of 4 cars parked in the street. We immediately decided that 3 of the cars belonged to Chinese and it was unlikely they would be the thief. The car in which the iPad was travelling had to be a non-Chinese owner. I then stood next to the only car (there were no bright stickers or dangling red and green lanterns) and decided to send a ping noise to my iPad. “Maybe my iPad was in this car’s boot?”

Immediately, I heard a ping response, but it was not coming from the car. Next to the car was a roller rubbish bin. The noise was coming from inside! I opened the bin…only trash! But the pinging noise was suddenly a lot more audible. I moved some rubbish aside and voila. Just like magic my iPad and my colleagues’ iPads were nestled away in a plastic Vodacom shopping bag. Nice and convenient.

Our tenacity had paid off. The two policemen (Constables Khoia and L.Chauke) were more excited than I was. They then kindly got permission from their captain to drop me off at the hotel in Pretoria. On the way we reflected what had happened and this had really made their day because so often they do not have any success. I kept thinking to myself, what leadership these two policemen have demonstrated. They never complained – were always polite. They could see I was determined not to give up and simply did not want to disappoint me. Even with the Chinese, they remained very calm and never shouted or tried to be arrogant.  I then thought, there was something I could do.

The Police in South Africa need simple technology to be able to do a better job and catch criminals. I have no police training, but with the few technical gadgets I had I was able to get them pretty close to making an arrest.  It is really sad that the hotel has no security surveillance on the cars coming in. If we had the number plate registered, we would have identified the car used to transport the iPad from the hotel and perhaps made an arrest. The hotel did not even have a log book. This was not the first incident. They had done nothing to improve their security!

The insurance industry is spending millions because the easy answer is simply just to give up and get the claim processed. Surely some smart insurer can work with one of the Mobile Network Operators so patrol cars have the technology to be able to trace stolen phones. I actually called Vodacom for help whilst we were racing down the R21 – they said: “they definitely do not do that!” I know the technology exists and it cannot be that expensive to do what I did, because I did it today. This is not rocket science anymore.

If anyone is interested, then I have a few smart ideas of how we can catch a few more criminals using technology and how we can launch the iCop app and lead South Africa in its race against crime.

Tonight I sleep peacefully, knowing there are a few less people wanting to buy a stolen iPad, because they know it can be traced.

Catch them if you can!

Marc Tison