Kathmandu, August 25

Despite the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division’s success in bringing down reported cases of motorcycle theft in recent years, a new figure shows a slight increase in property crime in the fiscal 2015/16 compared to the previous one.

The Victim Support Unit at MTPD registered a total of 488 complaints of bike theft in 2015/16 against 473 in 2014/15. Still cases of bike theft reported in 2015/16 are far less than what the traffic police dealt with in the last four fiscals.

According to statistics, MTPD received 1,532 missing complaints of bike in 2010/11, 1,453 in 2011/12, 852 in 2012/13 and 788 in 2013/14.

“In response to 488 complaints relating to bike theft in 2015/16, traffic cops retrieved 193 two-wheelers and returned them to their respective owners after verifying documents. Search for the remaining stolen bikes is on,” said MTPD.

Similarly, traffic police have received 120 complaints of bike theft and managed to find 23 of them in the past 40 days of the current fiscal.

DIGP Prakash Aryal, MTPD in-charge, handed over 12 motorcycles, which traffic police retrieved from different places of the country, to the concerned owners yesterday. “We still have 25 motorcycles in our custody for further investigation,” he informed.

Officials claimed that cases of bike theft, however, have decreased with each passing year. It attributed the success to stepped up surveillance, massive manhunt to track racketeers and increased awareness among bike owners.

Police have succeeded in arresting more than 125 bike thieves in the past five years.

The MPTD also deploys sleuths in remote hill areas to intercept stolen bikes. Almost all two-wheelers lifted from the city are sold to clients in rural parts that have road networks but lack presence of law enforcement officials.

Hospital and cinema hall premises, and busy markets are more vulnerable to bike thefts. Racketeers are found selling a stolen bike for Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000, depending on its condition.