| One dead as troops swoop down on car thieves Morshed al-Ali
Special to The Daily Star
A Lebanese Army patrol raided the home of a suspected car
thief Saturday in the Baalbek village of Brital and killed his brother in a shootout.
Following the incident, the army command issued a statement saying that soldiers went to
the village to arrest Abbas Mohammed Tleis, who was wanted on several outstanding arrest
warrants.
The warrants were issued for Tleis’ alleged connection to previous shootings,
circulating counterfeit currency and stealing a number of cars and holding them for
“ransom.”
Sources said that Tleis, after stealing the vehicles, would call the owners of the cars in
order to negotiate a deal to sell them back at “low” prices.
The army said that Tleis’ brother Mustafa, also known as Abu Munzer, was killed while
resisting soldiers who had cornered him during their search of the village.
Following the incident, the soldiers arrested Abbas Tleis and his brother Qassem, seizing
a number stolen cars in
their possession.
The army did not release any other details about the men.
No notable security measures were taken in the area following the shootout. Reporters who
went to Brital to investigate the shooting were prevented from getting close to
Tleis’ home by a group of armed village residents, who later asked the journalists to
leave the area.
Last Monday, another suspected car thief was arrested after being shot and wounded by
soldiers in Brital.
The village, which was once described by security officials as an “out of
bounds” area for security forces, has come under the scrutiny of police and the army
over the last couple of months.
The car thieves who operate in the town typically call car owners and ask them to pay a
ransom for their stolen vehicles.
On Oct. 28, police said one Lebanese was gunned down and another wounded in a gun fight
with Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint on the edge of town.
The two men were suspected of circulating counterfeit Syrian bank notes.
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