Moneeb Ilyas/FacebookSometimes, against all odds, life deals you a shit hand – Abdul Ilyas is a testament to that.
The young gentleman from Derby has had a hell of a time recently. On August 19, his £40,000 BMW M4 convertible was stolen from his mother’s house while he was holidaying in Dubai.
The 21-year-old had to cut his trip short, changing his return ticket so he could get home as soon as possible – at the pricey sum of £400.
Moneeb Ilyas/FacebookThen, on Saturday morning (August 24), Ilyas went outside and discovered his Porsche had been badly vandalised with swearing, racist language and ‘take off da rich and give to da poor’ spray-painted across the car’s bonnet.
Ilyas told Derbyshire Live:
It really isn’t my week. It happened overnight Friday into Saturday and I saw the graffiti when I woke up and went outside on Saturday morning.
I can’t believe this has happened to me, but I am looking at the positives.
Moneeb Ilyas/FacebookIlyas, who runs social media agency Blu Capital Education, had contacted Derbyshire Live to ask them for help in tracing his stolen BMW – which he’d bought for the summer and only had for three months.
He believes thieves who knew he was away on holiday took advantage of his absence, and may have used a relay system to mimic the signal his key would use to access the vehicle.
Ilyas added:
Whoever did it must have seen that I was going on holiday on social media and through that it was the right moment to steal it.
We had a look around to see if it was caught on camera but so far we’ve not been able to find anything.
After flying home, he’s put out appeals on social media for anyone with any information to come forward.
Moneeb Ilyas/FacebookSo far, he hasn’t heard anything ‘concrete’ work with – people have allegedly seen a car just like his with a different number plate, but that’s about it.
Ilyas said:
Things like this are rare in Derby. I want to raise some awareness on social media. So far we have had nothing concrete back about it.
If someone saw something it would be great if they came forward. There might be a reward as well.
There must be someone out there who knows something.
Derbyshire Police confirmed they are investigating the theft, and urged people with any information to get in touch on 101 quoting reference number 19000444093. You can also get in touch anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.