When they questioned the suspect, the police learnt that he was the son of a businessman. “He was studying aeronautical engineering in Singapore. He dropped out of the course and return,” said the police, noting that the youth was addicted to certain vices and started stealing bikes after his family refused to give him money.

On Wednesday evening, he stole a bike parked near the SBI branch in Parry’s Corner. The owner of the bike saw him riding it on Thursday and caught him.

In another case of arrest of a serial bike thief, a 40-year-old call taxi driver who had been stealing two-wheelers when he was not driving his taxi was arrested. The police recovered 14 bikes from him.

The suspect, Purushothaman of Little Mount, has been addicted to alcohol and usually sold the stolen bikes in parts forRs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 so that he can meet his liquor expense, said the police. “He usually steals one bike from one place, take it a little distance away from the spot and parks it there. If the bike remains there even after five–six days, he takes it again and sells the parts as scrap to earn Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000,” said the Saidapet police explaining his modus operandi.