Three suspected two-wheeler thieves were arrested by police on Saturday after they were caught in the act trying to steal a scooty in Keating Road here.
One of the suspects, Ribellang Phyllei (25) was nabbed on the spot but the other two were able to flee, though they were intercepted by police at a checkpoint in Mawryngkneng. They were identified as Empyrkhat Dhar (21) and Steven Syngkon (19). All three hail from villages in West Jaintia Hills and the pair that tried to flee were attempting to return to WJH when they were caught.
The incident began at around 4:50am on Saturday morning when, due to vigorous patrolling by police in the state capital, a party of police from Sadar police station came across three persons who drove in a tourist taxi (ML 04C 7163) to Keating Road where they attempted to steal a scooty (ML 05AC 8352) by hot-wiring the vehicle. Phyllei, of Biar, Laskein block, was driving the car and was picked up on the spot.
The other two took advantage of the darkness to flee. Dhar is a resident of Saphai and Syngkon a resident of Iaw Thymme.
Police seized various paraphernalia the trio would have used to steal two-wheelers, along with helmets, bottles of petrol, Rs 6,100 in cash, three mobile phones and the tourist taxi.
A case has been registered against them at Sadar police station and the authorities are looking into whether they were involved in any other thefts.
