SHARJAH // Police have arrested a gang of 11 men who, they say, planted GPS trackers on rental cars before stealing them.
The suspects - nine from Afghanistan, one from Iran and another from India - are accused of renting out selected vehicles and fitting hidden trackers before returning them. When the car was rented to another customer, the gang would locate and steal it.
Gharb police were first notified of the gang after a Toyota Prado belonging to a rental company was stolen, said Colonel Jihad Sahoo, director of Sharjah CID.
"Suspicion fell on a number of men. In cooperation with Dubai police the Iranian suspect, HJH, was arrested. During interrogation he confessed that he stole the car with other partners."
The suspect told police his role was to rent a certain type of car after being given instructions from a gang member living abroad. He would then take the car to one of the Afghans who would install a GPS device and make a copy of the keys.
HJH said the car would then be returned to the rental company while another member of the gang forged the documents required to export the car.
Colonel Sahoo said: "We managed to reveal the identity of the other gang members who were all in the UAE. The suspects guided police to the place where they were hiding stolen cars in preparation for exporting them."
