Lebanese police announced Wednesday the dismantling of a gang of burglars who were robbing the properties of wealthy families in the region of Tyre, in Southern Lebanon.
According to the directorate of the International Security Forces (ISF), the gang has been tracked since an armed intrusion into a villa in Jannata, on April 4. That day, hooded armed men broke into the villa of a resident of Jannata. They tied up the family members, locked them in a room and forced the father to open his safe.
They took the sum of USD 20,000 and LBP 350 million, in addition to jewelry valued at nearly USD 50,000.
The ISF intelligence service was able after a thorough investigation to identify the criminals, two of whom were arrested – a 48-year-old Lebanese, B. Sh; and a 35-year-old Syrian, A. Kh. The first one was arrested in Tyre and the second one in the village of Tawra.
During his interrogation, B. Sh admitted to being the mastermind of the gang and to providing members of his gang with information about their targets, all of them wealthy families. He mainly told them whether there were weapons in the targeted houses or not.
Many villas were burglarized last March.
The ISF did not reveal where they got their information from, probably because the investigation is still ongoing. Police agents are working hard to arrest all the members of the gang.
