Hollywood A-lister Tom Cruise’s BMW X7 was stolen from Church Street in Birmingham this week.
The vehicle heist occurred whilst the actor was filming the seventh instalment of the beloved spy action series Mission: Impossible. The criminals reportedly obtained the car by using a scanner to seize and duplicate the signal from the keyless car’s activation fob. From here, they were able to trick the vehicle into believing the fob was in range.
The Sun reported that Cruise’s vehicle was taken from outside the Grand Hotel with thousands of pounds worth valuables inside. After police intervention, the car was found near Smethwick, although local CCTV is being examined and the inquiries continue.
“It’s since been recovered by police because it was equipped with an electronic tracking device, but everything inside it had gone,” a source told The Sun. It’s a huge embarrassment for the security team, and the guy who had been driving it was hopping mad — but not as mad as Tom!”
For Mission: Impossible 7, sections of the Grand Central shopping centre were closed from Sunday to Wednesday to allocate for filming. Currently, the movie is pencilled for a May 2022 release. It follows the highly successful sixth entry in the series, 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which received critical acclaim and grossed $791 million at the box office.
Muhammad Afzal, The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, had the opportunity to meet the 59-year-old actor and co-star Hayley Atwell. Afzal said Cruise’s presence had been “a fantastic visit and fascinating look behind the scenes,” and that he “can’t wait to see the film when it’s released.”
