Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report 

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This is the moment a mischievous teenager nicks a 94,000-GBP digger and takes it for a joyride using a master key he had bought online for just 55 p.

The 14-year-old, who’s been identified only by his family name, Sun, later told the police he had been riding around town in a bus looking for unattended excavators to drive around for fun.

The teen from the city of Zhenjiang. in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu, is a self-proclaimed JCB fanatic who learned how to operate diggers by watching online videos.

Local residents called the police on 24th November when the secondary school pupil drove the Daewoo digger through town and accidentally knocked over a parked scooter.

He had reportedly stolen it from a worksite during lunch hour when its owner was on his lunch break, and footage shows the boy turning the vehicle through the junction of Tianqiao Road and Gangzixia Road.

Arriving police were told the collision resulted in no injuries, but the authorities were shocked to learn that the culprit was an underage boy with no driving licence.

Sun was taken to a police station where he reportedly told investigators that he managed to drive away the unattended digger using a master key which cost just 5 RMB (55 p) online.

He had purchased a set of keys a few days earlier, and kept them in his pocket while scouting for potential targets, the police said.

The digger, which costs a reported 850,000 RMB (94,000) was returned to its owner in one piece.

Investigations are ongoing, with the boy’s family likely to be punished for the minor’s traffic offence.

The police did not say whether they would also look into the master keys sold online.

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