Learn Farsi: صورت دزد مانند این عکس کشیده است. - The thief's face is long like this picture.

Yes. When using mânand to mean "like" or "similar to," it acts as a preposition and needs an ezâfe to connect to the noun that follows it. You pronounce it as mânand-e in aks, even though the ezâfe vowel isn't usually written.

I thought the verb keshidan meant "to pull" or "to draw." Why is keshideh translated as "long" here?

You are right! keshideh is the past participle of keshidan (to pull). When used as an adjective to describe a physical feature like a face or eyes, it means "elongated" or "long"—literally as if it has been stretched or pulled.

Can I use mesl or shabih instead of mânand in this sentence?

Yes, you could say mesl-e in aks or shabih-e in aks and the meaning would be exactly the same. The word mânand-e is just slightly more formal or literary, while mesl-e is extremely common in everyday conversation.

Why is the comparison (mânand-e in aks) placed in the middle of the sentence instead of at the end?

In Farsi, it is very common to place descriptive prepositional phrases before the main adjective or verb. The literal word order here is "The face of the thief [surat-e dozd] like this picture [mânand-e in aks] long is [keshideh ast]."