A Toyota Hiace bus that was stolen from Cooreville Gardens in Kingston on Thursday morning was recovered a few hours after in Siloah, St Elizabeth.

The recovery of the bus, which was equipped with a vehicle tracking and recovery system, led the police to four other vehicles, a police source told the Observer.

Three men have since been detained are being held at the Mandeville station, while the police carry out further investigations, which are being led by Constable Michael Johnson of the Mandeville Police Special Operation Squad.

In addition to the Toyota Hiace bus that was recovered by the police, the lawmen also seized a 1999 white Toyota Corolla sedan, a white Suzuki Grand Vitara, a Toyota Rav 4 and a motor car whose make has not been determined.

Observer sources said four King Alarm armed response teams began the chase of the stolen bus after the King Alarm Kingtracker vehicle tracking system was activated.

The police emergency 119 was also alerted, and assisted King Alarm in tracking the vehicle through Spanish Town and the Old Harbour Bypass, St Catherine and to Porus in Manchester where a road block was erected but failed to stop the bus. At this juncture, the source said, the marked King Alarm response vehicles were instructed by the police to cease the chase and unmarked police units were dispatched to assist with the recovery of the bus.

Constable Michael Johnson and two other policemen, who received a call from Police Control that the bus was spotted in Grove Place in Manchester went in search of the vehicle.

The search took them to Mile Gully, also in Manchester where the bus is reported to have made a brief stop. At Mile Gully the window tint was stripped, and the registration plates which had been removed replaced by new plates. The silver wiper blades were also replaced by regular ones.

At Cottage, an additional six policemen joined the chase which took them to a number of districts including Comfort Hall, Manchester and Balaclava, St Elizabeth. At a mechanic’s residence in Balaclava, the police again spotted the bus without licence plates and on their arrival two men were seen running from the vehicle.

Two more cops joined the police party and the 11 policemen continued the search at Siloah, St Elizabeth.

At a premises in Siloh the two men who had abandoned the bus were held by the police. The Corolla and the Grand Vitara were seized at this premises and a third man held in connection with their seizure.