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On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:23:49 +1300, BobF <...@surfwriter.net.not
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-stolen-bus6-2009nov06,0,5595923.story
latimes.com
VW bus stolen 35 years ago is found in shipping container bound for
Europe
Customs agents inspecting a load bound for the Netherlands discovered
a 1965 van that disappeared from a Spokane repair shop in 1974. CHP
investigators are searching for the thieves.
By Mike Anton
3:56 PM PST, November 5, 2009
When U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Port of Los
Angeles opened a shipping container bound for the Netherlands, they
discovered a 1965 Volkswagen bus stolen in Washington state 35 years
ago.
Far out, man!
The unusual seizure of the mint-condition bus on Oct. 19 came during a
routine inspection of several Volkswagens that were being shipped by
an Arizona restorer to customers in Europe. The vehicle identification
number of the blue-and-white bus, which was swiped from a repair shop
in Spokane on July 12, 1974, was still in police computers.
"Pretty amazing, isn't it?" customs spokesman Jaime Ruiz said Thursday
when the find was announced.
The restorer, who was not identified, isn't a suspect in the long-ago
theft, authorities said.
"He's a victim himself. He was an innocent purchaser," said Mike
Maleta, an investigator with the California Highway Patrol, who will
attempt to trace the vehicle's ownership back through interviews and
registration documents.
"I'm going to try my best to find the crook," he said.
Maleta said Spokane police couldn't locate the woman who once owned
the bus.
"Allstate paid her $2,500 or so to settle the claim," he said. "Now
it's worth $25,000. . . . It's in pristine condition. It looks like
it's brand new. So Allstate wanted it."
Bummer.
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
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