Double-cabin pickup trucks top target for thieves

AMMAN — Double-cabin pickup trucks top the list of vehicles most targeted by car thieves in Jordan, which prompted most insurance firms to stop offering comprehensive insurance coverage for such cars, a sector representative said. 

According to Maher Hussein, director general of Jordan Insurance Federation (JIF), thieves smuggle double-cabin pickups to neighbouring countries — Syria and Iraq, which he said have become lucrative markets for such stolen vehicles.

An official source, who requested anonymity, acknowledged that pickups are the most attractive to gangsters, who, he confirmed, smuggle them to Iraq and Syria to “sell them to extremists there”. 

However, police said that the phenomenon of car theft in Jordan is decreasing due to intensive campaigns targeting some places on outskirts of towns or deep in the desert which used to be hideouts for thieves. 

Hussein told The Jordan Times over the phone Tuesday that 99 per cent of comprehensive insurance policies cover collision, fire and theft, adding that the vast majority of insurers refuse to offer such policies to double-cabin pickup trucks. 

“Insurers have stopped covering pickups with full insurance some four years ago, when the phenomenon of car thefts started to grow,” the JIF director said. 

Hussein claimed that few months ago, around 250 cars carrying Jordanian plates were found in Iraq. 

Public Security Department Spokesperson (PSD) Major Amer Sartawi said that in 2013 police retrieved around 4,200 stolen cars, stressing that the “phenomenon of car theft” decreased sharply over the past months because of campaign targeting  places that used to be hubs for thieves. 

Abdul Rauf Fiadh had his double-cabin pickup stolen last year outside a shopping mall in Amman. 

Hours after he discovered that his 2012 model pickup was stolen, he said he received a phone call from the thieves demanding a JD2,500 ransom to get his vehicle back.

“They gave me the choice — either to pay the money or receive a video on my phone showing my car on fire,” he told The Jordan Times recently, adding the culprits warned him against calling the police. 

Fiadh said that he paid the money and got his car back. 

Responding to a question on how thieves get the phone number of owners of stolen cars, Sartwai said this comes mostly from belongings left inside the cars.

“We have arrested many thieves who called owners of stolen cars asking for ransom,” the PSD spokesperson said, urging people to inform police once they are contacted by thieves.