UAE | Crime
High-tech gang of luxury car thieves busted, three held
Thieves use a new system for stealing the cars. Police initially puzzled by the steady theft of one kind of car.
- By Diaa Hadid, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 October 7, 2004
- A high-tech gang of car thieves broke into luxury 4x4 Lexus cars in a span of three to five minutes.
- The vehicles' personalised vehicle computers were replaced with the ones from the vehicles purchased from abroad.
- The thieves also changed the chassis numbers and replaced the car-model plate. Now the stolen cars had a different identity and appeared to be legitimate vehicles purchased from abroad.
- This also permitted the thieves to use the keys from the purchased vehicles in the stolen cars.
- According to the company that sells the cars in the UAE, Lexus keys must be programmed to match the engine.
- Police searched a villa in a northern emirate where four cars were being stored alongside high-tech equipment used to steal cars.
- Some of the cars had been sold to other neighbouring countries and police are still working to retrieve the vehicles.
- Police said the three men captured Mikola, Andre and Andrian claimed to be Ukrainians.
Police have arrested three of a five-member high-tech gang of car thieves who stole 13 Lexus 4x4s, it was announced yesterday.
The announcement came at a press conference headed by Brigadier Khamis Mattar Bin Mazina, director of Dubai Police's criminal investigation department (CID). Police investigations began in January, with arrests made last month.
Brig Bin Mazina said the investigation took its time because the thieves used a new system for stealing the luxury cars. Police were initially puzzled by the steady theft of one kind of car, which then "disappeared without a trace."
"We discovered after a lot of investigation that the men were purchasing similar vehicles from abroad that had been written off in accidents. They brought the cars into the UAE, where they were taken to a scrap dealer."
Brig Bin Mazina suggested the scrap dealer was involved and said "the scrap shop didn't work every day if you get my drift."
"Luxury 4x4 Lexus cars were broken into in a span of three to five minutes. The cars were taken away, and their personalised vehicle computers were replaced with the ones from the vehicles purchased from abroad.
"The chassis numbers were changed and the car-model plate replaced. That gave the stolen cars a different identity - they now appeared to be legitimate vehicles purchased from abroad. It also allowed the thieves to use the keys from the purchased vehicles in the stolen cars." According to the company that sells the cars in the UAE, Lexus keys must be programmed to match the engine.
Through investigations, Brig Bin Mazina said, police searched a villa in a northern emirate - refusing to specify - where four cars were being stored alongside high-tech equipment used to steal cars.
He said some of the cars had been sold to other neighbouring countries and work was still being done to retrieve the vehicles.
The CID chief said the three men captured, Mikola, Andre and Andrian, claimed to be Ukrainian, but added that the men were likely to hold more than one possibly falsified passport. He said they are trying to confirm their identity.
He did not say when the men were arrested, nor where. He said the men came into the country on visit visas. Police are still searching for the other two men. The cars were stolen from Murraqabat, Rafa, Bur Dubai, Rashidiya and Naif, between January and July.
Police said the case is not related to the international car-theft ring, which Gulf News reported last month.
The men have been referred to the public prosecutor, under various charges of armed robbery, aiding and abetting robbery and overstaying visas.
With additional inputs from Bassam Za'za
smooth operators
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