Kottayam: Police arrested two men who had stolen a bike following a dramatic incident at Velloopparambu here on Friday.
The bike thieves had jumped into the river to dodge local residents. But after natives alerted them that they would be bitten by river otters, the thieves swam towards the bank. At that time, police reached the spot and took them into custody.
The duo had stolen Kummanam native Tariq’s bike on Friday morning from the parking lot at Medical College. Tariq was a bystander for a patient at the medical college. When he found the bike missing from the parking area, he took to his Facebook page and created a post seeking help to trace the bike with the details including the vehicle's registration number.
On Friday morning, Jerin who went to take bath in Meenachilar river found the bike on Velloopparambu bridge. As he remembered Tariq’s Facebook post and the bike's registration number, he informed the matter to the people residing nearby.
However, the bike thieves managed to flee from the natives and jumped into the river. Though they swam towards Midas company on the opposite side of the river, people gathered there forced the two to swim back.
Exhausted, the two stopped swimming and rested for some time by holding onto plants growing from the banks. However, the local residents alerted the two that there were otters in the river and they would bite.
On hearing this, the thieves swam towards the bank to escape from the otter bite. The Gandhi Nagar Police rushed to the spot and arrested the thieves.
