Karwar: Whenever you park your two-wheelers in public places in Karwar, Ankola, Honnavar, Bhatkal and Haliyal, think twice as bike-lifters are active in these coastal towns. In the last four-five months, vehicle theft cases have been increased in the coastal towns of Uttara Kannada district. The bike lifters are targeting high-end two-wheelers.

 The owners of the vehicles are worried about the safety of their vehicles while parking on the roadside or at public places with no CCTV cameras. In the last five months, the district police registered 18 two-wheeler theft cases, especially high-end vehicles including Royal Enfield. The thieves break the hand lock and take away the vehicle.

 The thieves leave the place if they fail to break the hand lock. The vehicle owner even after noticing that there was an attempt to steal his vehicle refuse to register complaint with the police and takes precautions on his own. On Thursday night, a man parked his Royal Enfield bike in front of Maladevi ground in Karwar.

 The thieves tried to break the hand lock, but failed to do so. The incident was captured by the CCTV cameras installed at a nearby shop. But, the vehicle owner did not register complaint with the police. A couple of days ago, a twowheeler theft was reported at Maruti Galli in Karwar.

 But the owner of the vehicle did not register a complaint saying it was an old bike and he doesn’t have time to run behind the police. Of the 18 bike-lifting cases reported in last five months, the police were able to recover only five vehicles.

The police said the thieves leave the twowheelers on roadside after emptying the fuel tank or on seeing the traffic police.