Thief who couldn’t sell stolen bikes held

AHMEDABAD: For Irfan Saiyed, a 22-year-old from Sanand taluka in Ahmedabad district, it had become difficult to sell a stolen bike even at the throwaway price of Rs 8,000, due to the cash crunch because of demonetization.
Assistant commissioner of police, SOG, B C Solanki said Saiyed then decided to dismantle the bikes and sell the spare parts for cheap at a scrap market. “This was his mistake, as we got a tip-off that a youth named Saiyed regularly sells bike spare parts.We tracked him from near Shastri Bridge and eventually nabbed him when he was on a stolen bike without a registration number on Thursday morning,” added Solanki.
ACP Solanki said they recovered 14 bikes from Saiyed, which he had hidden at various parking lots in the city. “Saiyed had already dismantled a few motorcycles. We are tracing the scrap dealers who bought spare parts from him,” added Solanki.
Police sources said during Saiyed’s interrogation it emerged that he was stealing bikes for about a year to fund his lavish lifestyle and also to recover money he had spent on his wedding.
“Saiyed confessed to having stolen nine motorcycles from the Karanj area of the Walled City, three from Kankaria and one each from Amraiwadi and Vejalpur. The total value of the recovered bikes is about Rs 4.22 lakh,” Solanki added.
Police sources said Saiyed, who lives in Sanand taluka, would come to Ahmedabad whenever he needed money and steal a bike using a master key. “He would then park the bike at a parking lot for a while and then sell it off. Recently, he found it difficult to sell stolen bikes due to cash crunch,” added a police source.