Brazen thieves target 3 Arlington auto dealerships, stealing 12 vehicles
ARLINGTON, Va. - A bold group of thieves descended on Eagle Automotives on Columbia Pike in Arlington Saturday night driving off with eight cars worth more than $200,000.
According to police, the owners of Eagle and video shared by the dealership the thieves arrived just before nine p.m. and after breaking into the business through a back window made their way to an office where the key fobs were kept.
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Then, over a period of an hour and a half, the group went through the lot clicking the fobs until they found the vehicles they were looking for. BMW's, a Mercedes and a Porsche.
Surveillance video shows what appears to be young men in masks wearing hoodies getting into the cars and driving away. None of them had license plates and it all went down within feet of a number of businesses including a Burger King right across the street.
No one called the police.
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"It's huge," said sales manager and part-owner Amro Awadallah. "Those were a lot of cars really expensive--one of those cars could buy another three cars, four cars so it's a pretty big hit."
The thieves were so bold they returned to the lot two more times over a span of an hour and a half.
"Definitely an eye-opener for sure," said Awadallah. "(We) have to step up our security definitely a little bit more we have been here 24 years never once crossed our minds in the heart of Columbia Pike that this would happen."
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By Monday morning a new security camera was being installed.
Police say two other dealerships in the county were hit Saturday night with four more cars stolen.
The thieves attempted to hit a fourth dealership, according to police, but an alarm went off as they tried to get inside.