Made of wheels | Society | wavemag.com.np

PRATEEK RAJBHANDARI

Prajwal Khadgi had left his 150cc Moto Auba in a nearby compound in Ekantakuna, only to find his bike gone the next morning. Luckily, a few days later, he heard that three stolen bikes had been recovered in Dolakha, one of them had his bike's registration number.

"We had to fetch it all the way from Dolakha but thankfully, my bike did not have a single scratch. The one next to it had a bullet-hole," says Prajwal. Not everybody is as lucky. Ameer Gurung returned to the parking lot in Durbar Marg four hours after he had parked his new Bajaj Pulsar 150cc at 8AM, but it was gone. Ameer had insured his bike and expects a reimbursement within six months. Bilas has already collected an 85 percent reimbursement on his new Bajaj Pulsar 150cc, after it got stolen from a parking lot in Dillibazaar in broad daylight.

"One bike a day is stolen on average in Kathmandu, which is alarming," says inspector Sugam Sijapati of Valley Crime Investigation Branch (VCIB), Hanuman Dhoka. Most of these thefts occur from parking lots and compounds of unmonitored houses. Between July 2004 and June 2005, 543 cases of motorbike theft were reported to the Valley Traffic Police, out of which 32 were recovered. This figure was 357 for the same period a year before, out of which 38 had been recovered. Around 285 thefts have been reported between 16 July and 27 October in 2005, and among them, 26 have been recovered. These numbers show that more bikes are stolen every year as more motorbikes are imported.

"There are motorcycle thieves by profession," says sub-inspector Keshav Basnet of VCIB. "They steal bikes for a living. They don't steal other things. Even if arrested and jailed, once released, they return to their old ways again." Basnet's department has prosecuted 72 individuals for motorcycle theft in the last three months. The legal penalty for a theft depends on the circumstances in which it took place. The minimum penalty is one-and-half-month's imprisonment with a fine worth the booty. Prison sentence for the guilty doubles on successive cases of theft but it cannot exceed six years. Some police officials say that the penalty is too lenient to deter such crimes.

Usually, a new-looking bike is whisked, sold with counterfeit papers and registration number. A re-sold Pulsar will fetch around Rs 50,000, a CBZ or YBX Rs 30,000, and older models around Rs15,000. A bike may also be dismantled and sold off in parts, usually to motorcycle workshops. The low price of plunder attracts buyers and becomes a source of easy money for crooks. The nature of the crime involves different activities—spotting bike, transporting it, polishing and forging ownership documents. So, the thieves usually operate in gangs.

"They saw off the handle-lock and use direct-line ignition to start the bike," says sub-inspector Aavesh Gautam, "but arrested thieves admit that Pulsar bikes open easily with a false key." That's probably why a large number of stolen bikes are Pulsars.

Recovering a stolen bike is not easy, since it cannot be identified once the number plate has been removed. Counterfeit ownership documents can be traced and examined. The VCIB informs that it has formed a cell to investigate motorbike theft in co-ordination with the Traffic Police and District Police Stations. They conduct surveillance in parking-lots and ambush—surprise checking of motorbikes—even on roads with less traffic. "Crooks who steal bikes live among us. Crime has social causes," says Inspector Sijapati. "Preventing the theft of motorcycles is a social responsibility. If you don't want your bike to get stolen, don't buy stolen motorbikes."