THE MUMBAI Police Crime Branch arrested two men on Wednesday who would allegedly offer to “change” old bikes to newer models in exchange for commission. The police said once they got the old bikes, they would scout for a newer two-wheeler of the same model and steal it. Then they would replace the registration and chassis of the newer bike with the older one and give it to the owner of the old two-wheeler. In the process, they would earn money from the client, the old bike’s owner, and also get money by selling off the old motorcycle. The police have recovered 25 bikes from the arrested duo and are expecting to recover more two-wheelers. An officer said that on Wednesday they arrested Sahil Ganja (31) and Arif Khan (28) who would offer to replace old bikes for newer ones charging a fee of more than Rs 25,000 for each, depending on the model. Once someone in city gave the old bike to be replaced, they would scout for newer models of the motorcycle. “The accused would then steal that bike, change the chassis and registration number and give it to the client as the newer bike. The clients were not aware that the ‘newer’ bike was a stolen one,” said an officer from crime branch unit 9. The accused would eventually sell off the old bikes, the police said. The two members of the gang, it is believed, have been working for the past one year. “Based on their interrogation, we have recovered 25 stolen bikes. We are looking for some more gang members whose arrests will help us recover some more stolen bikes,” the officer added.
