A man who allegedly stole an iPhone 4 from another man in the Octagon, Dunedin, yesterday was tracked to Dunedin Airport by the phone's owner, moments after the alleged offender had been arrested by police.
Senior Sergeant Steve Aitken said Dunedin police received a report the phone was stolen in the Octagon at 4.15am.
Just after 7am the phone's owner called police to say he had tracked his phone through an internet service he was registered with which was able to show the phone was at the Dunedin Airport and he was going there to find it.
When he arrived airport police had coincidentally arrested a 28-year-old man they had been seeking for a week, after he was recalled to prison.
The man was trying to fly to Wellington. When the man was searched on his arrival at the Otago Corrections Facility in Milton, the iPhone was allegedly found on him.
Snr Sgt Aitken said police could not stress highly enough the value of services that allowed people to track their phones if they lost them or they were stolen.
"Everyone who can should join that service."
