The General Directorate of Internal Security Forces stated in a report that "as part of ongoing efforts by the International Theft Crimes Office in the Judicial Police Unit to combat car theft operations in various Lebanese areas, and through information gathering and investigations with several detainees, the personnel of this office were able to identify the mastermind of one of the car theft gangs, named F. A. (born in 1983, Lebanese), nicknamed 'The Octopus.'
He is wanted by the judiciary under /11/ arrest warrants for car theft crimes.
It was also discovered that he recruits individuals for the aforementioned gang and manages the coordination among its members. Additionally, he is known to be extremely cautious in his movements, using the Burj al-Barajneh camp and the Hay al-Salam area as his hideouts. On July 26, 2022, as a result of surveillance and tracking operations, a force from the International Theft Crimes Office ambushed him in the Airport Road area, near the Burj al-Barajneh camp, and arrested him.
Upon interrogation, he confessed to forming a gang for the theft of modern cars and admitted, in collaboration with others, to stealing over /100/ cars from the Beirut and Mount Lebanon governorates and sending them to the Bekaa valley to be sold in Syria for substantial sums of money. The investigation is ongoing under the supervision of the relevant judiciary, and efforts are being made to arrest all those involved."
