TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese comedian was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly staging an online auction of an acquaintance's valuable bicycles, then stealing them for sale to the highest bidder, reports said.

Nobushige Kaneshima, 39, is said to have snapped pictures of nine high-end bikes owned by a cycling magazine editor and posted them on to an Internet auction site.

Once the virtual hammer fell, Kaneshima allegedly stole them from the editor's garage.

The bicycles were worth a collective two million yen (S$25,315), broadcaster NTV and other media said.

Kaneshima, who goes by the stage name "Kaneshima Dancing" and is well known as a ballroom performer, denies the allegations, the reports said.