Police have cracked three cases of vehicle thefts in four days in different parts of the country and arrested five Omani suspects.
An Omani identified only by his initials Q.P.T. was arrested for allegedly driving off with a car whose owner had stepped out to buy some medicine from a pharmacy outside Saham Hospital. Another Omani, identified as P.G.G, was also arrested for assisting the first accused in the theft.
“The owner left his engine own and went to the pharmacy to buy medicine, and within minutes his car had disappeared,” Ali Al Kasbi, a spokesperson for the ROP’s Public Relations Department told Gulf News.
The suspects’ luck ran out when they met with a minor accident about 30 km north of Saham. “The owner promptly informed the police about his car being hijacked after he left the engine on,” Al Kasbi said, adding that the alleged thieves were involved in a collision near Sohar roundabout and were arrested by the police.
In a similar case, the police arrested two Omanis, identified by their initials P.O.P. and M.Q, in Amerat suburb for taking off in a car that another Omani had left on as he attended to some work at a bank. Within hours of the complaint, the police caught the two suspects from the same area.
The police also arrested another Omani accused in the Ruwi area for stealing a car whose owner left it unattended with the engine on outside a private school where he had gone to pick up his child.
An Indian expatriate who faced a similar experience advised motorists to take precautions rather than be sorry. “I have lived in Oman for the last 35 years but never thought that someone will drive away my vehicle,” he said.
Omkar Badheka, who works as a financial controller with a media house, saw his car being driven away in front of his own eyes. “It took them [thieves] less than 40 seconds to drive away my car,” he told Gulf News as he recalled the daring theft recently.
Badheka reckons the theft was the handiwork of young local boys looking for nothing more than a joy ride. “I got my car back after about four days,” he said, adding that the car was parked in an isolated spot barely three or four kilometres from where it was taken away.
“No parts were taken but whatever valuables were in the car were all missing, including some important papers,” he said about the incident that happened as he got down from the vehicle to give his clothes at a laundry in the busy Darseit suburb.
“I learnt my lesson the hard way and would advise every motorist not to leave vehicles unattended with their engines on even for five seconds,” he stressed.
According to police sources, several cases have been reported recently of cars being stolen as the owners made a halt to withdraw money from ATM counters or other such errands.
The ROP have urged all motorists to be careful not to leave their vehicle engines running when they get out of their vehicles to attend to any chores. “Negligence makes it easy for the criminals,” Al Kasbi said.
Meanwhile, police officers in Ruwi have arrested two Asians from the Wadi Kabir area in Muscat after catching them red-handed attempting to steal batteries from parked trucks.
