On Thursday, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced the dismantling of a network of car thieves whose stolen vehicles were subsequently used in burglary and kidnapping operations. However, they did not specify whether this same network was responsible for the mentioned operations.
In a press release, the General Directorate of the ISF stated that their intelligence services had arrested the mastermind of a car theft gang on May 29. This gang had been involved in kidnappings, including the abduction of a Saudi national on May 28, as well as other attempted kidnappings.
The ISF explained that their investigations began after a Cherokee jeep was stolen on May 13 in the Adma area of Jounieh. It was later discovered that this stolen vehicle had been used in an attempted kidnapping and robbery in Beirut’s Manara district on May 21, the kidnapping of two Iraqis in Hamra on May 27 (who were released the same day in Tabarja), and the kidnapping of a Saudi national on May 28 on the Sports City highway in Khaldeh, located in the southern suburbs of the capital.
Mashari al-Mutairi, the Saudi national who was kidnapped on May 28, was subsequently found in the Bekaa region, near the Syrian border, following an extensive search operation conducted by the army and the ISF. The motive behind the kidnapping was financial, and as a result of the searches conducted before and after the victim’s release, the army managed to arrest 12 individuals.
Based on the investigations, intelligence officers were able to identify the members of a car theft network operating in the governorates of Mount Lebanon and the Bekaa, including the 27-year-old Syrian leader, A.Z.
A.Z. and his 24-year-old brother were arrested during an ambush in Aïn Kfar Zabad, Bekaa. The police found a quantity of hashish and 50 Captagon tablets (amphetamine pills) in the vehicle they were traveling in.
During questioning, the elder brother confessed to being the mastermind of the car theft gang responsible for more than five thefts in Mount Lebanon and the Bekaa. He also revealed that the stolen cars were transported to the Brital area in the Bekaa and sold within the region. The younger brother admitted to involvement in drug dealing.
Both individuals have been presented to the relevant authorities as per court orders, while efforts are ongoing to apprehend the other members of the gang.
