Dogbo: the police foils the theft of a tricycle in Dévé thanks to a fortunate mechanical failure.

Around 3 a.m., during a routine patrol on a local road, law enforcement officers spotted three individuals acting suspiciously in the dark trying to start a new tricycle without its ignition keys.

Upon seeing the patrol’s flashing lights, the three suspects immediately fled, abandoning the vehicle on site. Searches and a sweep of the surrounding forest area did not manage to catch them.

Method of operation and victim sequestration

While checking the neighborhood to identify the origin of the vehicle, the police discovered a door of a residence barricaded from the outside with a bed frame. Once the barrier was removed, the occupant found that his vehicle, which he had parked the previous evening on his terrace, was stolen.

The findings allowed a reconstruction of the burglars’ tactics: after sequestering the owner at home by blocking his door from the outside, they had taken the tricycle out onto the public road before being immobilized by a starting failure, just before the police arrived.

The vehicle was towed and impounded at the Dévé district police station pending the presentation of ownership documents by the victim, while investigations continue to identify and locate the three fugitives.