Three suspects arrested by the Thideer Nagar (crime) police led to seizure of six expensive two-wheelers here on Saturday.
The baffling point was that the investigators realised that the robbers had used some students to sell the bikes in Sivaganga and Tirunelveli districts.
According to Inspector Chandran, the police seized a vehicle during a vehicle check two days ago. On interrogation, the suspect claimed to have lost his original documents. However, discreet checks suggested that he was lying and his statements were contradictory.
Based on the confession from Sathish Gopi (22) of Keeraithurai, the police arrested two of his accomplices identified as Manikanda Prabhu (19) of Simakkal and Saravana Pandi (23) of Keeraithurai.
They claimed that after stealing expensive bikes parked in public places, which were not locked properly, they removed some of the parts and replaced them with duplicate spares.
Showing the photographs of the vehicles through WhatsApp to ‘friends’ in neighbouring districts, they drove them at night and disposed them of for a paltry sum to the ‘customers’. The seizure solved six crimes reported in the city police.
The robbers were not habitual offenders and had just started committing crimes and from the money realised they resorted to drinking and other illegal acts. The ‘friends’ were identified as students studying in arts colleges, who were treated for facilitating in the sale of the stolen vehicles, the officer said.
Further investigation is on.
