An elaborate scheme involving the theft of rental car company vehicles for probable shipment overseas led to Thursday night’s arrests of three men and the recovery of four late model SUVs rented from Nashville area Avis locations by persons who provided fraudulent identifications.
Charged with three counts of vehicle theft each are Abdul Alladin, 34, of Black Jack, Missouri, Rodley Balthazar, 28, of Laurel, Maryland, and Islam Johar, 29, of Woodbridge, Virginia. They are being held in lieu of $75,000 bond each.
On Thursday evening, detectives from the Police Department's Auto Theft Unit were alerted that a group of persons believed responsible for the theft of dozens of rental vehicles nationally had come to the Nashville area. One of the nine vehicles fraudulently rented during a 24-hour period, a 2022 Chevrolet Equinox SUV, came from the Avis location on West End Avenue. Working with Avis staff, detectives located the Equinox in the 2400 block of Brick Church Pike. Before detectives could advance the SUV, it became mobile and was followed by an Police helicopter to a parking lot on N. Gallatin Pike in Madison. The three men inside the Equinox, Alladin, Balthazar, and Johar, were all taken into custody without incident. The parking lot they had driven to was found to have three other vehicles fraudulently rented from Avis locations on Thursday, a 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander, a 2022 Kia Sorento, and a 2022 Kia Sportage. The Sportage came from a Sumner County rental office.
The five other vehicles fraudulently rented from this area are believed to have been taken out of state for shipment to Africa.
Undercover detectives from the Nashville Police Department’s Violent Crimes Division assisted with Thursday night’s surveillance and arrests.
The activities of Alladin, Balthazar and Johar remain under investigation by Nashville Police Auto Theft, Hendersonville Police and the FBI.
