A Shaker Heights man has been charged in connection with a three-state cargo and scrap metal theft ring, the U.S. Attorney General's Northeast Ohio Office said today.
Nayyir Mahdi, 42, owns Express Metals in Cleveland, according to the attorney general. Co-conspirators would bring stolen vehicles, cargo and scrap metal to his shop to break down. The vehicle identification numbers (VINs) were then removed from the vehicles, parts were stripped from the vehicle and sold, and the rest of the vehicles were crushed and sold for scrap, according to the indictment.
Mahdi and four others face felony charges of conspiracy, operating a chop shop, altering VINs, theft and possession of stolen cargo and other charges.
MORE: 5 indicted in huge chop-shop operation in Shaker Heights after FBI raid (Cleveland.com)
