A suspected gang of superbike thieves has been nabbed, with police seizing hundreds of thousands of rand’s worth of motorcycles in a raid on an alleged chop shop north of Pretoria.
Pretoria Flying Squad members arrested three men when they came across the suspected chop shop in Soshanguve while working on another investigation in the township on Tuesday.
The police officers and a member of a vehicle tracking company were searching the area for a suspected stolen car when they picked up the signal from a motorbike that had been stolen in Pretoria on Friday night.
Closing in on the signal, police found dozens of motorcycles lined up next to each other on a property.
Four were identified as stolen.
Police have sealed off the property and detectives are investigating how many others have been stolen.
Officers at the scene said that when they raided the property they found several men stripping the bike whose signal they had picked up and had been tracking.
An officer said the superbike, a Yamaha Fazer 1000cc, had been stolen from outside a motorbike shop in Capital Park on Friday.
“Police from the Flying Squad were tracing another vehicle in the Soshanguve area when they picked up the signal from the motorbike.
“Following the signal they came to a house in the township where they found dozens of motorbikes.
“Searching the yard in which the bikes were found, they discovered the motorbike whose signal they were following.” This motorcycle had been stripped.
“While searching the yard, police found another three superbikes with chassis numbers that had been altered.
“These motorbikes, along with the stripped motorbike, were seized.”
Three men in their mid-20s were arrested on charges of being in possession of suspected stolen motorbikes.
The trio were believed to be members of a motorbike theft syndicate.
“We believe that the syndicate is responsible for the theft of superbikes across the province.
“We also suspect that the members of the syndicate are stealing these bikes for spare parts.”
The officer said the men would appear in the Soshanguve Magistrate’s Court soon. - Pretoria News