How These Car Thieves Got Caught
A group of car thieves thought they were untouchable until their love for social media ultimately led to their downfall.
Meet Waqar Khan, Harris Haroon, Mohammed Akleem Ali, and Bilal Khan, four individuals who made a name for themselves by stealing high-end vehicles, mainly BMWs, as they roamed the streets and parking lots.
From January to July of last year, they managed to swipe over 40 cars in the Birmingham and Solihull areas.
After launching an investigation, detectives uncovered that Khan often used his own BMW to stalk potential victims before zooming off as their escape vehicle.
In one notable incident on June 20, they nabbed a Toyota Hilux from a carpark on Holliday Street in Birmingham, only to have their luck run out when the car’s tracker led police to its location on James Street in Tyseley.
CCTV footage proved vital in tying them to the stolen vehicles, capturing Khan putting his name on the crime by returning to the scene in the hijacked car, all while his accomplice, Bilal Khan, drove the stolen BMW.
The crew often uploaded videos and photos of themselves with the cars they’d stolen. These clips showed everything from posing casually next to the vehicles to the actual act of thievery.
In addition, they shared screenshots of stolen cars on their social media accounts and even tracked down their thefts, checking police reports about where trackers had been located.
Their antics didn’t stop there; they even reached out to car owners to blackmail them, demanding thousands for the return of their own vehicles.
They would dismantle existing trackers and replace them to evade detection. If a car couldn’t be retrieved, they reached out to potential buyers all over the UK, luring some, like one buyer who came all the way from Middlesbrough for a stolen Toyota Hilux.
In July, the gang was apprehended, and law enforcement seized their phones along with their theft tools.
All four suspects from Birmingham eventually admitted to conspiring to steal motor vehicles. Their sentences were as follows: Waqar Khan received four and a half years, Haroon got a three-year stint in a young offenders’ program, Bilal Khan ended up with a two-year suspended sentence, and Ali was given a 36-month Youth Supervision Order.
Additionally, Ali must also take part in a Restorative Justice program.
After the sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court, PC Junaid Ali from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit commented, “This crew was not just another set of thieves; they treated their crimes like a business. They constantly stole various types of cars and sold them, but in doing so, they built a solid case against themselves. Our forensic team dug deep into their phones, discovering video evidence where they shamefully bragged about their crimes, ultimately sealing their fate. This is a significant victory in our efforts to bring car thieves to justice.”
