A pub landlord is “over the moon” after his beloved puppy was found seven weeks after being bundled into the back of a van by a dognapper .
Asim Erturk’s cockapoo Oscar wandered out of The Widow’s Son in Bromley-by-Bow on May 30 and was stolen. After a desperate search involving online appeals with thousands of shares, Mr Erturk received a phone call from a man last Thursday asking for £2,000 for the return of his dog.
Mr Erturk refused to pay but two days later received a tip-off that Oscar had been dumped at a florist’s in Ilford. The pair were reunited on Sunday and Mr Erturk today thanked the local community and media for making Oscar “too hot to handle”, which he believes forced the thief to hand him over.
The Evening Standard was first to run an appeal from Mr Erturk.
He said he was “broken” when Oscar was stolen, adding: “I was exhausted but now I realise how much I missed him — I love him. He’s a funny, lovely dog. I never thought I would see him again. I thought 99 per cent he was gone. But now he’s back. He’s such a unique dog. I’m delighted.”
Mr Erturk, 36, from Stoke Newington, said Oscar had grown to be “a bit chubby” and seemed quite lost after his ordeal. The six-month-old also has a hernia that might need surgery.
Mr Erturk said: “I think he’s been over-fed. Oscar was brought to us because of people in the community supporting us, and making him too hot to handle.
“He was just too recognisable — it was going crazy. They said they wanted £2,000 — I said no. I wasn’t giving any money at all. I said I was co-operating with the police. I thought it was a scam. I couldn’t give money to someone who took him. I was trying to get him back by some other way.
“Then I received a tip-off on Saturday from a lady who said the dog was with her. It was a very complicated story — they said people dropped him at the florist’s and he was given to a lady.” Oscar’s kidnapping was caught on CCTV. It is believed he was taken because of the high value of the popular cross-breed.
A police spokesman said officers from Tower Hamlets were investigating and no arrests had been made.
