Jamshedpur, Nov. 3: Police busted a gang of bike thieves by arresting four persons and recovering as many motorcycles from Birsanagar under Telco police station area at the wee hours today.

All the four accused are teenagers. Those nabbed are all residents of Birsanagar and were identified as Rajpal alias Raj, Mandeep Singh, Ramit Kumar and Niraj Kumar. The ringleader of the gang, however, managed to escape.

According to police, the bike thieves were nabbed after one of them was caught minutes after lifting a Hero Honda Splendour from the Ram Mandir area of Telco Colony at around midnight.

After interrogation, the thief divulged everything pertaining to their activities.

Sources said based on the information extracted from him, a police party immediately raided some houses at Birsanagar and recovered four more stolen motorcycles from there.

The police subsequently arrested three more youths for alleged involvement in the thefts.

One of the accused confessed that he was a part of a gang, but claimed he was active in the crime for the sake of adventure and not money.

On being asked, one of the accused said: “I would take pleasure in stealing bikes and taking my friends for a joyride. As we had used a fake number-plate, we stood no chance of being caught by the police.”

Deputy superintendent of police Rajiv Ranjan said all those arrested are first-timers and did not have the expertise in selling off the stolen vehicles.

“The accused had picked up six Hero Honda Splendors during the past three months . Having stolen the bikes, they wanted to sell them off, but could not find buyers, leading them to abandon two bikes,” said Ranjan.

They were, however, waiting to find someone, who could help them to dispose off the vehicles.

The accused were placed in judicial custody by the police in the evening.

Robbery at plant

A gang of armed robbers stormed into the Hindustan Petroleum bottling plant at Gamharia in the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district and decamped with truckloads of copper nozzles worth Rs 2 lakh at the early hours this morning.

According to Gamharia police the robbers took three security guards of the bottling plant hostage.

The matter came to light around 6 am when the morning shift began. Officials of the plant immediately informed the police.

The police soon sealed the entry and exit points of the city and initiated random raids.

Officer-in-charge of Gamharia police station, M.M. Singh said raids were on, but nobody had been arrested till late in the evening.