Sharjah: Sharjah Police have arrested nine members of an Arab gang for stealing 26 trucks and smuggling the vehicles outside the country.

Major Mohammad Al Qabeidh Al Tunaiji, Director of Criminal and Investigation Department at the Central Region police, said the suspects stole 26 trucks from different emirates. The police found out that some trucks were bought from owners who illegally obtained compensation from insurance companies. The owners made false complaints with police claiming that their trucks were stolen and claimed insurance money.

The theft came to light when a truck owner lodged a complaint with Al Dhaid police saying a Volvo FH 440 truck belonging to a public transport company had been stolen from Al Dhaid city.

The Sharjah Criminal Investigation Department formed a special team to track down the suspects and arrest them.

The security operation was dubbed ‘Spider Thread’.

They traced the suspect and found the stolen truck in the industrial area of Ajman. Police found that two Arab men [of the suspects] had stolen the truck and made modifications on its chassis number in one of the workshop in the area in order to blurring the identity of the truck by removing its posters.

The team managed to identify the suspects linked to the theft.

The police identified the buyer of the stolen truck, who had made part payment to the suspects and promised to pay the remaining after smuggling the vehicle out of the country.

However, they refused and offered the vehicle for sale to another buyer, who made a part-payment and requested further modifications in the truck in order to smuggle it out of the country.

The first and second buyers were found to be part of gang of nine members. The police found that the gang was behind several incidents of thefts and was involved in buying trucks falsely reported stolen by owners. Through these methods, they managed to steal and smuggle 26 trucks from different emirates.

All the suspects have been referred to the public prosecution.

The police urged public to report any crime to 999 or Toll Free Number Najeed 800151