Police in Atlanta recovered the black Range Rover that was stolen from record producer and Grammy-nominated singer Akon at a gas station on Monday (May 24).
The police report states that the R&B singer, whose real name is Aliaume Thiam, was robbed of the vehicle at a gas station in Buckhead, ATL, sometime in the evening hours. He was reportedly pumping gas when someone slid into the driver seat of his vehicle and drove away.
The police report states that Akon watched helplessly as his Range was driven off the gas station and onto nearby Sidney Marcus Boulevard. The “Lonely” singer said his SUV was followed out of the lot by a dark-colored sedan. Security footage from the gas station time stamps the incident at approximately 11:37 PM.
The footage also shows the sedan pulling into the gas station beside Akon’s vehicle before the daring robbery was pulled off.
Luckily for Akon, his phone was inside the vehicle at the time of the theft, and he was able to use an app to track the vehicle’s movement. The app led him to southwest Atlanta, but the vehicle was gone by the time officers arrived at the location.
In another lucky break, the singer was again able to locate the vehicle when his phone came back online. Officers recovered the phone and vehicle a few hours later in an area known as Forest Park.
According to police statistics, there has been a marked increase in the number of vehicle thefts occurring in the ATL area this year. In March, the authorities urged residents of the city not to leave cars unattended or their keys in the ignitions.
As of early Tuesday, no suspects had been identified in the case of Akon’s stolen vehicle.
Akon is the latest in a series of singers and rappers to have been targeted by thieves. Back in January, rapper Ludacris had his Mercedes-Benz stolen when he went to use an ATM. His car was subsequently located through a tracker and returned to him.
