Shocking moment car thieves use hi-tech gadget to steal £44,000 Mercedes from outside owner's home - as keyless raid is caught on doorbell camera
The innovative duo used a signal relay device to steal the Mercedes S Class in the middle of the night.
Doorbell footage shows one of the men making his way towards the house while the other stood by the car.
Mindaugas Grizas, 36, and Lukas Zvirgzdys, 18, successfully stole the car for a mere 12 minutes.
When breaking into the vehicle a large engine noise alerted the owner to the theft.
The owner of the car called the police from their home located in Breckland, west of Norwich, Norfolk.
The call was made at 2:30am on April 7, 2025.
Officers for the Norfolk Constabulary stopped the car just 12 minutes later where they found the passenger still wearing a balaclava.
Mindaugas Grizas, 36, was sentenced to one year and four months imprisonment and a two year disqualification from driving
The device was found in the footwell alongside a GPS jammer that was still transmitting.
The duo were arrested at the scene and charged later that day with multiple offences.
Grizas from Thetford and Zvirgzdys of Hillburn Road, Wisbech were charged with stealing the car and using apparatus to interfere with wireless telegraphy.
The 36-year-old was also charged with driving without insurance and driving while disqualified.
The pair appeared at Norwich Magistrates Court the following day where they both pleaded guilty.
On May 12, both men appeared in Norwich Crown Court for sentencing.
Grizas was sentenced to one year and four months imprisonment and a two year disqualification from driving.
Zvirgzdys was jailed for a year, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service.
Sergeant Gary Morris, of Norfolk Police's Breckland District Crime Unit said: 'This is a timely reminder to take simple steps to keep your vehicle safe.'
Keyless technology, once the preserve of expensive high-end vehicles, has become commonplace among more affordable family cars.
These gadgets let criminals pick up the signal from a car's keyless fob lying inside the owner's home, and extend this signal to unlock the car and start it. The vehicle's security system is tricked into thinking the key fob is present.
He added: 'The easiest thing to do if you have "keyless" technology is to buy a faraday box or pouch which you can get cheaply and easily online.
'This blocks the signal from the keys meaning it can not be picked up by a relay device outside your home.'
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Daily Record
10 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Sex for Sale: How horrific murder of well-known prostitute spelled end for Glasgow's red light district
The Daily Record tells how one campaigning former police chief helped make life safer for vulnerable women' sex workers. Just over a decade ago sex was sold quite openly on the streets of Scotland. Young women - usually heroin addicts - would gather at night to sell their bodies, usually to feed their habit and often that of a partner. In recent years sex work has moved online with women advertising their services from flats, hotel rooms and even AirBnb. However until recently hundreds of women across Scotland could be seen at night standing on street corners or litter strewn doorways seeking out the custom of their punters. Every city Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee had their own distinctive red light districts. The biggest was in Glasgow - known as The Drag - which attracted customers from all over the West of Scotland and often further afield. It was situated close to the city's financial district and ran from Blythswood Square down to Cadogan Street and then on to Argyle Street. As financiers and office workers poured out on to the streets at the end of the day they would be replaced by a different kind of workforce. Hundreds of tragic women looking for business from their customers - often well heeled professional men who would cruise about in their BMW's and Mercedes looking for the girl of their choice. From 6pm until the early hours of the morning the women would ply their hellish trade. At one stage it was estimated that 850 women worked in The Drag of which 85 percent were heroin addicts. It was a grim and dangerous way of life in more ways than one. Between 1991 and 2005 seven sex workers operating on the Drag. Diane McInally, Karen McGregor, Leona McGovern, Jackie Gallagher, Tracy Wylde, Margo Lafferty and Emma Caldwell were murdered. All had one thing in common. They were vulnerable young women forced to sell their bodies to feed their habit. 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If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Nanette says Margos' murder was the beginning of the end for the Drag particularly with the conviction of Brian Donnelly later that year. She added:"It woke up younger women to the dangers of prostitution and working on the streets. "It also let the punters see that we were on the women's side. "After Margo's murder a lot of the men did not come back to The Drag. "It was also the first time we had got a conviction and showed we were serious about tackling the violence and making the women's lives better. "Until then I think people thought we were not taking the problem seriously. "We couldn't condone what they did but we were not condemning it either. "For the first time we were trying to help them." Nanette says Margos's murder was the one that struck most fear into the other sex workers. She added:"She had been on the streets since she was 18. "Margo was scared of nobody. "Any other women on the streets that were having problem spoke to Margo and Margo faced up to their punters. "In many ways they were mentored and looked after by Margo. "When she was murdered they got a helluva shock. "They thought if Margo can get murdered then anyone can. "They now saw it was just so dangerous." As part of Roots Out Of Prostitution the women were for the first time given access to benefits, health services and housing which also enabled them to get them away from abusive and controlling partners. Nanette added:"We built up their trust and the women began to see that we could solve their problems and the numbers using The Drag dropped." The former police chief is glad to see that women no longer have to sell their bodies on the street to survive. She accepts that working from home or flats as many sex workers now do is much safer for them. However Nanette added:"We shouldn't condone prostitution and we don't want that to happen." A bill introduced in 2007 by the Scottish Government made kerb crawling illegal, further reduced the sex traffic in The Drag. The new legislation made an offence of "loitering" in a car, with maximum fines of £1000 and the risk of punters having their cars confiscated. In the last 27 years street prostitution has drastically reduced in Glasgow thanks to Nan's groundbreaking initiative. She added:"I was coming down from the West End one night recently and decided to drive through the town and there was nothing. 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Daily Mail
2 hours ago
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TikTok migrant who gave a step-by-step guide on how to cross the Channel 'filmed a how to kill your wife rant weeks before boarding small boat to Britain'
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The Government's 'returns deal' with France appears to have done little to deter those determined to get to Britain, with the latest total including more than 1,500 arrivals in the seven days since the 'one in, one out' scheme launched. Official figures revealed there were 474 arrivals on Monday alone, bringing the total since the general election on July 4 last year to 50,271, despite the Prime Minister's promise to 'smash the gangs' behind the trafficking trade. The milestone was passed seven months earlier than under his Conservative predecessor, Rishi Sunak. Baroness Smith – who is now an education, women and equalities minister under Sir Keir – said: 'It is a completely legitimate claim to say that what is happening is the result of the last government that chose to focus on gimmicks with the Rwanda scheme.' Labour scrapped the Tories' Rwanda asylum deal – designed to deter migrants from crossing – as one of its first acts, pledging instead to 'smash the gangs' by boosting law enforcement. However, small boat numbers are soaring, with 27,029 arrivals this year, up by 47 per cent on the same point last year and 67 per cent on the same point in 2023. Since the start of the crisis in 2018, 178,167 migrants have reached Britain, with only about four per cent of them removed. The Home Office told The Sun that it does not comment on individual cases. In a previous statement issued regarding Mr Hanifyar, a Home Office spokesperson said: 'It is our long-standing policy not to comment on individual cases, but we have made clear that it is unacceptable for any individual, whether they are a member of a smuggling gang or otherwise, to promote the criminal services of people-traffickers or for social media companies to allow it. 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Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
Child sexual exploitation victims 'not in scope' of violence against women and girls strategy
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