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Friday, 26 November, 1999, 16:54 GMT
Stolen motorbike found...in Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica The officer was on a Caribbean holiday when he saw the bike

An off-duty policeman who spotted a stolen Welsh motorbike in Jamaica has proved the long arm of the law can reach thousands of miles.

The Metropolitan Police detective was strolling along a Caribbean waterfront on holiday when he saw two motorcycles which he suspected were stolen.


I have been in the job 19 years and it's the first time I have experienced anything like this
Inspector Mike Mullis
He telephoned home and discovered one of the bikes, a Suzuki 750, had been stolen earlier this month in Wrexham, north Wales.

Inspector Mike Mullis, based in Wrexham, said: "It just goes to show that we are never off duty."

He added: "The officer was walking along a dockside and saw two motorbikes and thought they looked suspicious.

"He phoned his boss at 2am our time and asked if he could do a check on them and found one bike was stolen from us."

The inspector believed the motorbike, worth £4,500, had been stolen and then shipped abroad in a container.

He said that, in the past, North Wales Police had recovered stolen vehicles from as far away as Scotland and the south of England, but never from abroad.

'Too expensive'

"I have been in the job for 19 years and it's the first time I have experienced anything like this," he said.

But Inspector Mullis said the owner - who had not yet been told of the find - might not get his bike back.

"We contact the owner and tell them where it is, but it's up to them and their insurance company to bring it back," he said.

"In this case, they might not decide to bring it back because it would be too expensive."

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