Stolen Tyres Fund Roguish Romeos’ Lavish Lifestyle

Who can resist a tale of romance, even – or, indeed, especially – when it is horribly misguided and involves stolen tyres? With the noblest of intentions in mind, namely to impress their girlfriends, six young men from well to do families in India recently embarked on a life of crime, stealing motorcycles from wealthy relatives and then selling the tyres and other spare parts.

It appears that the men kept track of when their relatives purchased new motorcycles. One of the group would accompany the relative to a nearby shopping mall while the others stole the bike and had duplicate copies of the keys made. The man that remained with the relative apparently also kept an eye out for police and informed the others accordingly. The motorcycles would often be taken to the home of a group member and stripped of its saleable tyres and parts.

True to all classic love sagas, there is, alas, no happy ending to this tale. After a time enjoying the fruits of their ill-gotten gains, which were mainly spent treating their girlfriends with gifts and parties, police became suspicious about the youths who were, to quote The Times of India “changing their bikes regularly and living lavishly”. Three of the men have been apprehended, while a search is on for the remaining love bandits, who have gone into hiding.