BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities arrested overnight the head of a auto theft gang near Beirut airport who is wanted on 246 arrest warrants, a high-ranking security source told The Daily Star.

The source said four other gang members were also arrested along with the gang chief, Haroun Mustafa Tleiss, 25.

The source said judicial police lured Tleiss and the four other members of the gang to Beirut's airport road late Thursday evening in order to arrest them.

Just as police were about to arrest the gang members, Tleiss pulled out his gun in an attempt to shoot the officer, the source added, before he was disarmed by policy and taken to custody.

Tleiss is wanted on charges including theft, robbery, heading an armed gang, and drug and arms trafficking.