Gang rents luxury cars in Dubai... never to be returned

Dubai’s Police Commander has slammed car rent companies in the UAE over their failure to take enough measures to protect their property, saying this has given rise to gangs targeting cars in those companies.

The police said it arrested three people and have recovered 10 luxury cars allegedly stolen by them, two of them worth over Dh1 million each, Emarat Al Youm reported.

Major General Khamis Al Mazinah said two major car rental firms have become the latest victims of such thefts, after they were robbed of several luxury cars in just four days.

He said the man who heads that car theft gang was arrested 25 years ago for a similar crime, yet he was trusted and given vehicles by those two companies in return for a deposit of just Dh900 and a ‘fake’ passport.

“Dubai Police have repeatedly warned car rental firms against their lax measures and failure of getting sufficient guarantees before handing cars to strangers. The problem is they come to the police only after they are deceived,” Mazinah said.

He said the car theft gang nabbed by the police included a man from another Gulf country and two Asians, adding that they committed eight car thefts in Dubai and other UAE emirates in just four days.

“The head of the gang claimed he is a tourist. He would give a fake passport and a deposit of just Dh900. They also got his credit card which had only Dh3,000.”

Dubai’s Assistant Police Commander for Criminal Investigation Major General Khalil Al Mansouri said the cars stolen by that gang were smuggled out of the UAE to another Gulf country, adding that the main culprit managed to flee to that country.

He said an investigation later led to the whereabouts of an accomplice living in the UAE.

“He gave us information about that man. We moved to that country and stormed his place with the help of police in that country. We arrested that man, who confessed to the crimes and told us he was stealing cars for another Gulf man residing in the UAE in return for Dh10,000 for each stolen car.”

He said police also arrested gang chief in the UAE and recovered all stolen cars which were smuggled out of the country.

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