Owning a Royal Enfield motorcycle was a childhood dream for Dilip Kumar, a newspaper boy living in Sharma Nagar in North Chennai. Five months ago, he managed to buy one but his joy was shortlived. On August 1, a few youth in the locality stole his bike parked along the road.
Kumar is now one among the many residents who have lost their bikes and are hoping that the police will trace them some day. What many of them don’t know is that most of the two-wheelers stolen in the city are smuggled to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh through a chain of mediators. The number plate and colour of the stolen bikes are changed before they are smuggled across the State border, making it difficult for the police to track.
“When I saw the CCTV footage in my neighbour’s house, I was shocked to see two youngsters stealing it,” said Kumar. The visuals showed the two accused arriving on a bike. “While the rider waited at the street corner, the other person walked towards my bike, broke the lock and rode away,” he added.
The accused had covered the number plate of the bike they came on. They also wore a helmet, he said, adding that the CCTV footage was handed over to MKB Nagar police.
A few days ago, the Anna Nagar police arrested three bike thieves who actually stole a car and escaped. “During investigation we found many high-end bikes in their possession. The thieves either use the vehicles to commit other crimes or sell them at a very cheap price to brokers,” said a police official.
He said the brokers then change the colour and registration number besides making other modifications before selling the stolen bikes to mediators on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border.
They are then sold to college students and other prospective buyers in Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, child rights activists said that the gangs involved in the business of stolen bikes used juveniles to commit offences. “The adolescents act on the advice of the adults, and youngsters are lured by the money to purchase narcotics and alcohol,” an activist said.
