Shillong, Sept. 11: If you ever happen to travel on a motorboat while in Myanmar, it may be that the engine of the boat you are travelling in is from your Pulsar bike stolen by vehicle thieves.

The rise in the number of stolen Pulsar motorcycles from the state has prompted the Meghalaya police to direct the investigation to find potential buyers.

The vehicle thieves’ fondness for Pulsar bikes has investigating officers flummoxed. “In the past, we have arrested a few Muslims from Shillong, hailing from Manipur and staying at the Myanmar border for their involvement in stealing pulsar bikes. They had confessed to selling the engines of the bikes to be used in the motorboats in Myanmar,” superintendent of police (East Khasi Hills) A.R. Mawthoh told today.

The modus operandi of the bike thieves is to steal Pulsar bikes and take them to the Manipur border in Myanmar. The potential buyers of the bikes are mostly owners of motorboats in Myanmar. The car thieves remove the engines of the bikes stolen and sell them at a cheaper price of Rs 10,000 per engine.

“The engines of pulsar bikes are preferred as they consume less petrol. Moreover, the Pulsar engines are more effective than any other engines used by the motorboats,” Mawthoh said.

Pulsar bikes are not only stolen from East Khasi Hills, but also from other districts which indicate the wide network and coordination of the vehicle thieves.

When contacted, the only Bajaj Pulsar bike dealer for entire Meghalaya, Prashant Goenka, said today the sale of the bikes for the entire state are more or less consistent.