'Certainly a wake-up call': B.C. police remind residents to lock their doors after family robbed

An RCMP patch is seen during a news conference in Surrey, B.C., on Friday, April 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Mounties on Vancouver Island are warning people to lock their doors after a Nanaimo-area family was robbed of a high-end vehicle, cash, a computer and other personal belongings while they slept.

Investigators say the robbery happened at a rural property on Farrar Road in Cedar, southeast of Nanaimo, between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. Sunday.

No arrests have been made in the burglary and the stolen items have not been recovered, according to police.

The homeowner and his son told police they had returned home from an outing shortly after 1 a.m. and went to bed a few minutes later without locking the doors, the Nanaimo RCMP said in a statement Tuesday.

When the family woke up, they found several items were missing from their kitchen. Their vehicle, a 23-year-old, grey BMW X5, was also gone from the driveway.

Police believe the SUV was used to haul away the items stolen from the house, including a new set of Tour Edge Exotics golf clubs, a backpack, a computer, keys, a wallet, a purse, credit cards and cash.

An Apple AirTag tracking device that was inside the backpack was traced to Parksville before it stopped reporting its location, authorities said.

The stolen credit cards were used to buy gas around 2 a.m., according to police. The homeowners have since cancelled their credit cards, according to the statement.

"This was certainly a wake-up call for them," Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson Const. Gary O'Brien said in the statement.

"They admitted that they had become somewhat complacent over the years as nothing had ever been stolen from their property, let alone having items taken from their home," O'Brien added.

"The next day they made sure that all of their doors and windows were locked before they retired for the evening."

Anyone with information related to the robbery or the whereabouts of the stolen items is asked to contact the Nanaimo RCMP non-emergency line at 250-754-2345.