In an unexpected turn of events, a routine vehicle-checking drive by police in Jamshedpur led to busting of a racket dealing in stolen bike parts. Cops have arrested two persons from a place under Azadnagar Thana area in Mango on Monday.

The police recovered five stolen motorcycles and parts of over 70 dismantled bikes from the premises which was virtually a mini-factory for the gang that has been operating in the steel city for quite a long time.

The spare-parts that have been recovered include wheels, fuel tanks, shock absorbers, engines, headlights, tyres, silencers and horns.

Confirming the arrests, Superintendent of Police (city) Subhash Chandra Jat said that the unearthing of the racket followed the arrest of two youths during a vehicle-checking drive at Kadma late on Sunday night.

"During the vehicle-checking drive, two persons were nabbed while riding a stolen bike. On being interrogated, one of the riders, identified as Mohammed Iqbal, divulged that he has a garage at Azadnagar, where he used to keep stolen bikes and used to dismantle the parts of the stolen bike for selling them,” said the city SP while talking to The Telegraph Online .

He added, “On getting the information, a police team led by OC, Kadma Thana Ranjit Kumar took Iqbal to the garage and found a huge number of bikes' spare parts kept meticulously like a shop-keeper keeps one's goods for sale. Immediately, the police team arrested Iqbal and his associate and seized the stolen parts and five bikes from the spot.”

Jat added that on counting the spare-parts it was discovered that over 70 bikes had been dismantled and the spare-parts were carried in two trucks to Kadma Thana, which is about 10 kms away from Azadnagar.

Jat said they are now interrogating Iqbal further and trying to find out his network which is expected to be active in the bordering districts of Bengal and Odisha. He said they are expecting more arrests in connection with the racket.

A police officer, who is also a part in the investigating team said that Iqbal (35) had found a new technique to make money by selling spare-parts of the stolen vehicles as selling a stolen bike to someone was not easy.

"Iqbal used to buy stolen bikes at throw-away prices from the bike-lifters and would dismantle the parts. Numerus motor garage mechanics, who would require any parts for mending a vehicle would contact Iqbal to be able to mend the vehicle at comparatively less amount," said the officer, requesting anonymity as the investigation into the case is still on.

On an average, 120 bikes are stolen from different localities of the city every month, giving the police a sleepless nights for the past one year. Bike-lifters' gangs are active in public places such as Jubilee Park, marketplaces, hospitals and even in certain residential areas, Sonari, Bistupur, Sakchi, Telco and Jugsalai and would steal a bike within one hour of the vehicle getting parked at any place.