Gardaí in Dublin are searching for a thief who stole two racing bikes worth €18,000 and tried to sell them to a cycling shop for €100 each.
The man appears to have had no idea of the market value of the high-end bikes designed for mountain bike and downhill races. They had been stolen from a German holidaymaker’s vehicle in Dublin.
The man was spotted on one of the bikes by a motor-cycle garda on Arran Quay in the north inner city of Dublin at about 4pm on Thursday. Garda David O’Connell, a racing cyclist who also officiates at races, immediately suspected the bike was a very expensive specialised model that would only be used by racing cyclists.
He circled the quays on his motorcycle and made his way back on to Arran Quay in an effort to catch up with the suspect and establish if he owned the bike.
However, the suspect saw Garda O’Connell riding back towards him and rode on to nearby Lincoln Lane. He abandoned the bike in an apartment block and fled on foot. A member of the public flagged down Garda O’Connell and informed him the suspect had cycled into the apartment block but exited on foot.
Garda O’Connell found the bike outside the apartments. He brought it to Store Street Garda station where he lodged it as stolen property.
Reunited
Not long afterwards, a German holidaymaker from whose car both bikes had been stolen called into the station to report the theft and was reunited with the recovered bike.
However, the other bike remains unaccounted for and the suspect has not yet been found.
“It turned out the bike was worth €10,000 so it was nice to get it back for him,” said Garda O’Connell, who is based with the Regional Traffic Corps in Dublin Castle.
“We don’t have the second one which is worth €8,000. It is going to surface somewhere, maybe being offered for sale, so we want to appeal to people to look out for it.
The second bike is a fluorescent yellow GT Sanction mountain bike.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Garda.
