INUVIK - Yagoub Ahmed says he has himself to blame for his car being stolen and significantly damaged a few weeks ago.

"I don't think it's anything personal," Ahmed said. "It was just drunken idiots looking for money. Really I'm to blame."

Yagoub Ahmed kneels beside his damaged Toyota Corolla on Monday evening. The damage occurred after his car was stolen and crashed last month. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photo

During the early hours of March 14, Ahmed's 2004 Toyota Corolla was stolen from the parking lot of his Parkview Apartments residence on Boot Lake Road.

The incident happened sometime between the time Ahmed, who is a Delta Cabs driver, finished his shift at about 11:45 p.m. and when the vehicle was found by police at around 7 a.m., crashed into a residence's wooden garbage box at 62 Reliance St.

The vehicle was found with its rear window smashed, the front bumper nearly torn off, part of the hood caved in, and a damaged back bumper to boot.

Ahmed said he made a serious mistake by leaving his spare set of keys hidden in the vehicle. He said he also left loose pennies in the vehicle which probably encouraged the thieves to break into the car.

"When I found the vehicle there were bills everywhere," he said. "They know we work with a lot of cash and that's what they were looking for."

Ahmed said he never leaves cash in the vehicle.

He said a colleague who was working at the time called his apartment at around 4 or 5 a.m. to inform him his vehicle had been stolen and that he had just seen it "flying" up Mackenzie Road.

"He knew I was not working and there was no way I would ever drive that fast," said Ahmed.

That same driver called the police. Just after that a security officer at Aurora College campus called the detachment to report that he had heard a vehicle collision and witnessed a speeding car travelling on Gwich'in Road moments before.

Cpl. Kent Pike of the Inuvik RCMP detachment said the driver had probably lost control near the intersection of Gwich'in Road and Firth Street and ended up crashing on the next street over, Reliance Street, across from the Dome.

When police arrived, the vehicle had been abandoned.

Pike said the crash is still under investigation and police are attempting to interview witnesses.

Ahmed, who has been an Inuvik resident on and off since 1999, said he has never had any of his property vandalized like this before. Ahmed has purchased another ignition key since the key used by the thieves was not recovered.

He said he decided to come forward with his story to warn residents to take care with their vehicles.

"I think this sort of thing happens a lot in Inuvik," he said. "You have to be very careful, even when you leave your vehicle running when you go into a corner store."

But Kent said automobile thefts and vandalism are rare in town.

"Most people in town are very vigilant when comes to keeping their vehicles secure so we don't get a whole lot of stolen vehicle complaints," he said.