Trio nabbed for stealing 44 Enfield motorcycles Accused changed ignition part to unlock and ride away the bikes

The unit one of the Crime Branch of Navi Mumbai police arrested three persons and busted a racket who used to steal only high-end Royal Enfield motorbike. Police also recovered 44 Royal Enfield motorbikes worth Rs 1 crore from them.

Police also claimed to have solved a total of 64 cases of thef t of Royal Enfield motorbikes took place in different police stations in Maharashtra and Goa. Police said that from Januar y September 2020 to January 2021, the racket thef t motorbikes in Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune Grameen and Goa. They used to target new models of Royal Enfield motorbikes, said police.

Bipin Kumar Singh, commissioner of police, Navi Mumbai said that they used to target a new model of bullet

bike. "They used to connect a separate ignition spare part to unlock the motorbike," said Singh. He added the whole process in installing a separate part used for hardly five minutes and then to unlock the motorbike and drive away. "I will write to the motorbike company to make some changes in the ignition part and make it difficult to unlock," said Singh.

The arrested accused identified as Sohail Shaikh, 28, a real estate agent and resident of Mumbra, Sourabh Karanje, 23, a student and resident of Vikroli in Mumbai and Amol Dhoble, a resident of Pantnagar in Ghatkopar in Mumbai.

While Sheikh and Karanje were arrested from sector 17 in Vashi on January 22, Dhoble was arrested from his Mumbai residence on Januar y 23. Singh said that Dhoble was the main accused and he was involved in other vehicle thef t cases. "A total of 64 cases of Bullet motorbike thef t have been recovered, and we are expecting to recover more motorbikes," he said. He added that one more accused is involved in the racket.