Conflict Incident Report

Police have arrested the kingpin of a vehicle theft ring following a car chase in Jal al-Dib in the Metn, the Internal Security Forces announced Saturday.

The ISF said in a statement that arrest came after the death of Sgt. Chadi al-Hajj, 28, who succumbed to his wounds following a shootout with suspected car thieves in the Nahr al-Mott area, north of Beirut.

Brig. Gen. Imad Othman, the director of the ISF, had given orders to police to exert efforts to clamp down on car theft rings, prompting the ISF's Intelligence Branch to lay out a comprehensive plan to stop the perpetrators, the statement said.

Police arrested several suspects and identified the kingpin behind the operation as Aa.M., 34, known as Ali Fodda (silver, in Arabic).

The suspect had allegedly tasked several outlaws with moving the stolen vehicles to the Bekaa Valley in exchange for money.

The kingpin was arrested in a stolen Hyundai carrying a fake license plate following a car chase that included an exchange of fire.

Another man, identified as Aa.Z., 26, who was accompanying him, was also detained.

The two suspects admitted during interrogation to hiding four Tucson Hyundai vehicles in Mount Lebanon with the aim of taking them to the Bekaa.

The stolen vehicles were located and returned to their owners, including the car that the two suspects were in at the time of the car chase in Jal al-Dib.

Investigations showed that the kingpin had 150 arrest warrants against him, and had confessed to carrying out tens of operations to steal cars from various areas to send them to Syria.

His accomplice admitted to moving the stolen cars from Beirut to the Bekaa.

On Wednesday, a policeman was shot dead while during an altercation with a high-profile wanted suspect in Ouzai, south of Beirut.

The slain policeman was later identified as Lance Cpl. Afif Jaafar.