SEEKONK — Police have recovered thousands of dollars worth of expensive dirt bikes stolen from a local store, and an arrest has been made.
Local police in early February helped Boston police recover about 50 dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles from a storage facility in that city.
The stash included dirt bikes stolen two days before from MotorSports Nation in Seekonk, Seekonk Police Capt. Matthew Jardine confirmed Thursday.
“Seekonk Police Detective Division has been diligently investigating several B&E’s/larcenies from Motorsports Nation,” Jardine said. “Investigators found ties to organized crime and gang related activity.”
A target of the investigation, Juan Miguel Morel Marte, 19, of Lawrence, was arrested Wednesday by Lawrence police, Jardine said, after a warrant was issued by the Seekonk Police Department for receiving stolen property — one of the dirt bikes allegedly swiped in Seekonk.
Members of the Boston Police Auto Theft Unit Feb. 4 seized dirt bikes and other vehicles from a self-storage facility in Roslindale, and other storage locations in the Boston area were also searched with warrants.
The seizures were the result of a coordinated investigation, Boston Police said, involving Seekonk Police and various Boston departments. The FBI has also been involved along with other law enforcement agencies.
In the Seekonk store theft, seven people were seen on security cameras breaking into MotorSports Nation and making off with nine bikes. The suspects smashed the front windows and headed toward the store’s most expensive bikes, police said.
Only five of the bikes were missing as police wound up finding two just outside the store and two more in the middle of Route 6 near the Progress Street store.
The bikes are valued at $10,000 each, and the store had been offering a $10,000 reward.
“This investigation remains ongoing,” Jardine said.