Bicycle gang busted

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Police arrested five persons and recovered 23 stolen bicycles today at Valaichenai, 32 km north of Batticaloa, said sources in Batticaloa.

The breakthrough occurred yesterday when a man taken in by suspicious police, who found lurking in the premises of the Valaichenai Hospital, confessed to the police that he was part of a ring of thieves who had been robbing bicycles in the Valaichenai area over the past three months.

He led the police to the hideout to where four other members of the gang and twenty three bicycles were found.

There has been a spate of bicycle thefts over the past few months in Batticaloa too. The police however believe that a separate gang is operating in Batticaloa.