After German national forgets passport inside cab on way to airport, Vakola police team trace vehicle and return valuables to man in time for him to catch his flight
A police officer returns the bag containing Ryan Ebernau’s passport and documents. Pics/By Special Arrangement
Just five hours before his flight, a German tourist lost his passport bag in a cab at Vakola late Sunday night. He rushed to Vakola police, who traced the cab within an hour and recovered the documents from Andheri, allowing him to fly back to Germany on Monday morning.
Ryan’s recovered passport
The traveller, Ryan Ebernau, 24, said, “I’m thankful to the Vakola police for helping me get my passport back. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to take my flight. They found it in just an hour. I’m so happy and grateful.”
Around 12.30 am on Sunday, Ebernau took a private cab from Vile Parle to his guesthouse in Vakola, carrying his passport, ID cards and travel documents in a small bag. His flight was scheduled just five hours later
Police located the cab with help from the traffic department, which pulled up the vehicle details through its challan system and shared the owner and driver information. Live GPS tracking then led officers straight to the cab in Andheri.
He reached his guesthouse at 1 am, paid the fare and exited the cab, but forgot his passport bag inside. When he ran back out to look for the car, it had already left. Panicked, he rushed to the Vakola police station and reported the loss, telling officers he had only a few hours left to reach the airport for check-in.
PSI Tushar Mundhe immediately registered a missing report and deployed his team — constables Hajare, Munne and Koli — to track the cab. One officer went to the Vakola traffic division while another began tracing the cab’s live location. With help from the traffic police, they identified the owner and driver. The driver confirmed he had found the bag on the back seat but was currently on another ride in Andheri. Police urged him to return immediately, explaining the urgency.
Cab driver Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, 40, rushed to Vakola police station within 20 minutes and handed over the passport bag to Ebernau. The relieved traveller recorded a thank-you video for the police before heading straight to the airport — and boarded his flight on time. Illustrations/Uday Mohite
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