Police arrests cycle thief who graduated to motorcycle lifting

Following a month-long search, the Naya Nagar police has finally nabbed the 19-year-old kingpin of a notorious bike-lifter gang from Mira Road. The accused was identified as Asif Habib Ansari and is allegedly involved in a string of thefts of high-end motorcycles from parking lots and posh localities in and around the Mira-Bhayansdar region. Ansari was produced before the district sessions court in Thane on Monday and remanded to police custody.

Ansari took to bike lifting after dropping out from college. Interestingly, the modus operandi Ansari followed did not involve stealing bikes and later selling it. He, instead, stole bikes based on the demands and preferences of his prospective clientele and middlemen. Ansari’s arrest comes a month after the arrest of one of his aides who during interrogation spilled the beans about the gang’s mastermind.

Ansari’s 20-year-old collegian was arrested after he was caught zooming around on a stolen bike in Mira Road last month. “The accused not only exposed the identity of the kingpin, but also revealed his modus operandi. He did not follow the usual practice of stealing and selling. His thefts were tailor-made. He stole bikes as per the model demanded by his customers,” said senior police inspector R.K. Jadhav.

After evading the police dragnet for over a month, Ansari was arrested following a tip-off about his presence in Mira Road on Friday.