Tom Cruise’s trip to Birmingham has come to a fiery end – and it has nothing to do with his trip to a local curry house.
The Hollywood actor, 59, was reportedly left “hopping mad” after thieves stole his bodyguard’s BMW, containing thousands of pounds’ worth of the superstar’s luggage.
The ‘Top Gun’ heartthrob has been in the West Midlands filming the forthcoming blockbuster ‘Mission: Impossible 7’, and seemed to be having a whale of a time until the robbery took place.
The BMW X7 was parked at a hotel when the theft occurred. The cunning culprits are believed to have used a scanner to clone the vehicle’s keyless ignition fob to break into the car undetected before making their speedy getaway. (It sounds as though they were inspired by one of Cruise’s films.)
A source told The Sun that the luxury car had since been found, but all of the 59-year-old’s precious belongings had disappeared without a trace.
“Tom had been driven around in the car while in Birmingham and some of his luggage and belongings were inside it when it was taken,” they said.
“It’s since been recovered by police because it was equipped with an electronic tracking device but everything inside it had gone.”
“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,” they added.
Whilst cops don’t tend to comment on the identities of victims, West Midlands Police did release a statement saying: “We received a report of a BMW X7 stolen from Church Street, Birmingham in the early hours of Tuesday morning.”
“The car was recovered a short time later in Smethwick. CCTV enquiries have been made in the area that the car was recovered from. Enquiries are ongoing.”
The theft has soured an otherwise pleasant English getaway for the ‘Jack Reacher’ actor, which saw him sample the culinary delights of the area.
Cruise visited Asha’s, a Michelin-star restaurant on Saturday, where he reportedly had two chicken tikka masalas all to himself.
Speaking to local paper Birmingham Live, the curry house’s owner, Nouman Farouqi, said: “When he came he said he didn’t want any fuss and just wanted to be part of the atmosphere.
“He wanted a meal just like any other guest and simply wanted to enjoy an authentic Indian meal.
“A few diners recognised him but not all. Nobody made a fuss, though when he left people went a little bit crazy.
“He agreed to have his picture taken outside in a socially-distanced way and had his mask on for the first picture.
“He then took his mask off and said: ‘Take another one’.”
Elsewhere it was reported that the actor made use of a family’s garden in nearby Warwickshire, as he flew into the region by helicopter while Coventry airport was temporarily closed.
He might be wanting to make use of that chopper again given his recent experience with cars…