Five persons who were arrested for allegedly stealing motorcycles last week apparently used to keep their booty outside various police stations, along with vehicles impounded by cops, to avert suspicion, police said.
Officers said they used to sell the stolen motorbikes through an online trading app.
Kolkata police officers said the leader of the racket has allegedly stolen 32 motorcycles from Kolkata, Howrah and South 24-Parganas. At least six of these have been sold through the online portal, the police said. A dozen stolen motorcycles have been recovered.
“Several motorcycle thefts were reported from across the city in the past few months. We could track details of the kingpin, Sheikh Azam Hossain,” joint commissioner (crime), Kolkata police, Sankha Shubhra Chakrabarty, said on Tuesday.
The police said Hossain was arrested while he was returning with an allegedly stolen motorcycle from Baruipur, in South 24-Parganas.
During interrogation, the accused admitted that he alone had stolen more than 32 motorcycles, the police said.
“Further interrogation revealed that he used to dispose of the stolen bikes through his agents, who sold them through an online app. He would keep the stolen bikes outside various police stations under the Bengal police jurisdiction,” an officer at Lalbazar said.
The police often use police station premises or areas outside police station buildings to park seized cars and two-wheelers.
Many of these vehicles are parked there for years and often become unrecognizable after deposition of layers of dust.
The police said it was “an easy way to safely keep the stolen bikes” outside police stations because hardly anyone could tell them apart from the seized vehicles.
All five persons who have been arrested are from Bishnupur in South 24-Parganas.