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Penticton  

Take my bike, please!

A man who had his motorcycle stolen yesterday isn’t that upset – not after police told him that the man who took it was chasing after his girlfriend who was reportedly kidnapped.

The man, who did not want to be named, had just parked his Italian model Moto Guzzi in Princeton and was going to grab a drink inside a cafe when he heard the engine start up.

“By the time I realized, the man had my helmet on and he was already taking off across the ditch onto the highway,” he said.

Princeton RCMP said that a woman had allegedly been confined in a vehicle by Afshin Maleki Ighani, who was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for attempted murder in connection with a shooting in Oliver earlier this week.

According to police, the boyfriend and the female victim had been in a car with Ighani but then the boyfriend had been kicked out.

As the car drove off, the motorcycle was stolen.

“Police were obviously searching for someone else or for my bike and by the time they contacted me he had already blown past Keremeos,” said the motorbike owner.

RCMP checkpoints were set up in the Keremeos area in an attempt to intercept the vehicle, however only the male on the motorcycle was observed driving through and he failed to stop for police.

Officers located the stolen motorcycle in OK Falls.

Meanwhile, Ighani is reported to have left the woman when he ditched the car after returning to Princeton, but he was tracked and captured by a dog team in a wooded area nearby.

The motorcycle remains with police but the owner expects to get it back shortly.

“If the story is true and he was trying to help his girlfriend, then I don’t feel that upset about it at all,”  he said. “I am just happy he had a helmet on and was being safe about it.”

Ighani remains in custody and may face further charges in connection to Saturday's incident.



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