SPECIAL TELEGRAMS. SYSTEMATIC BICYCLE STEALING.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 45, 22 February 1908, Page 5

SPECIAL TELEGRAMS. SYSTEMATIC BICYCLE STEALING.

AN ARREST IN CHRISTCHUECH. [B* Tblegravh.— SrsciiL to The Post.) CHRISTCHURCH, ThisJDjiy.^ An arrest of somo importance wa?< made yesterday, tho police succeeding in laying hands on a man who has been making a systematic business of bicycle stealing in and around Christrhurch. The man had been responsible for tho theft oii two motor cycles and a large number of bicycles, and he had secured the use of a forge on a farm out at Yald- : hurst at which to so alter tho machines ; that they could not be identified by fchoir owners. His custom waa to sell tho stolen bicycles after they had been I "doctorod" to casual purchasers who i were willing to secure a. cheap bicyclo j without asking questions, and ho ceei>u, to have conducted quite a largo business along these lines. The first step towards the arrest was ! taken some days ago when Detectives Ward and Gibson visited the farm at Yaldhurst and mado a search of the forgo used by tho suspected man. They found four bicycles in various stages of alteration, and parts of other machines, as well as a motor cycle that had been |* stolon in tho city. The man himself I was absent and his whereabouts could I not be ascertained, but quite enough ovidence lay at hand to show that the ! polico suspicions were justified. A search was instituted for the man and yesterday ho was. arrested in Manches-ter-street. Statements mado by the man after arrest and tho results of a further search of his belongings made the chain of evidence fairly complete. He indicated to the police whero another stolen motor cycle could be recovered, and amongst his belongings wero found receipts for money received in connection with the ealc of a number of bicycles. The polico have known for some time f.iat bicycles were being stolen and alk'red so as to prevent recognition in systematic fashion The work has not beejj done cleverly, but bicycles have found their v way to the police station with the. numbers filed off and other obvious signs of having been doctored.