Stolen Mexican food truck spices up stolen phone riddle

If you think there is a new Mexican meals-on-wheels service in town, think again.

The brightly coloured food truck spotted around Port Elizabeth at the weekend was, in fact, stolen, so instead of waving “hola”, phone the police.

And while the owners of the La Cantina restaurant are desperate to get their Mexican food truck back, they have another head-scratching matter to ponder after a stolen cellphone was returned to them in crumpled brown wrapping with a R200 note inside.

The bizarre happenings at the new Circular Drive establishment, which specialises in Mexican street food, has created quite a buzz on social media, and while some have found it somewhat entertaining, the married restaurateurs are considerably less amused.

La Cantina owner Sarah Krebser and her husband, Manny Heredia, reported two cases of theft at the Walmer police station on Saturday.

It all started on Thursday night, when Heredia’s Huawei cellphone was stolen off the up-and-coming restaurant’s bar counter.

The following morning, Heredia, 37, posted on the La Cantina Facebook page, pleading with the perpetrator to return his phone.

“I do have a picture and video of the guy who took it.

They [then] discovered someone had driven off with their food truck

“On the phone, there are pictures and videos that are very special to me and I would at least like to get those back,” he wrote.

“I will give this guy until this evening to return the phone [or] I will post the pictures and video.”

Krebser, 25, said word had spread quickly and, by Friday afternoon, the phone had been delivered to the restaurant wrapped in brown paper.

However, all the pictures and videos had been deleted.

In an update later, Heredia wrote: “It’s a shame that people can be so dishonest and disrespectful to other people.

“My phone was returned but it is damaged and completely wiped clean, and the disrespect of putting R200 in the package is like a slap in the face.”

He said he would report the theft the next morning.

But the couple’s woes deepened after they reported the riddle of the phone to the police – on their return to the restaurant, they discovered that someone had driven off with their food truck.

Krebser said she had been contacted by residents who claimed to have seen the truck in Summerstrand, near the airport, and leaving Walmer township over the weekend.

Atlas Security was trying to help them track it down.

On Saturday night, the couple posted a video on Facebook – which was taken down later on legal advice – showing a man in a striped shirt walking past the bar at 10.30pm on Thursday.

In the video he is seen grabbing a phone off the bar countertop before casually leaving the restaurant.

The young man, believed to be from Rowallan Park, was identified by Facebook users later and has since removed his profile.

Krebser said the video footage had been handed over to the police.