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Muscat: A 13-strong gang of car thieves was jailed by the primary court in Muscat in the last week of July 2008.
The Royal Oman Police (ROP) exposed a major fake operation run by a gang of car thieves in February, initially taking into custody 50 people. According to police sources, five small companies were identified as being involved in the fraud.
The court last week sentenced six accused to two years in prison and ordered a fine of 300 Omani riyals (Dh2,862) while the seven others were sentenced to jail for one year and given a fine of 100 riyals. No further details about the other suspects were released by the court.
The companies identified as being involved in the fraud were Sahib Establishment, Saeed Bin Abdullah Al Kharussi Trading and Establishment, Al Rawahi Road Transport, Mahfoud Al Zaqer Trading and Establishment and Al Zaim Establishment.
The identity or nationalities of those sentenced or held was not revealed. According to sources, the thieves operated by forming small companies and used them to lease vehicles from individual owners by offering them tempting rates.
“The individuals were told they were hiring these vehicles to bigger companies,” according to the ROP press statement.
The owners were offered from between 350 to 1,000 riyals per month as rental for their vehicles.
“Afterwards the vehicles were sent to neighbouring countries such as Yemen and others for sale,” the source said.
As many as 301 fake agreements were made to hire vehicles — of which only 66 were recovered. The initial arrests were made in Dhofar, Oman’s southern region neighbouring Yemen, when suspects were caught with 18 vehicles.
According to the court papers, the total value of claims in this case stands at 1.5 million riyals.
“It probably started three or four months ago but soon complaints by residents of being cheated started increasing, prompting a thorough investigation,” the source added.
“A number of suspects were caught,” the ROP press release says.
The police also said these people had formed fraudulent companies in several parts of the country to lure people into their trap.
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