It was Thursday afternoon, 28 March. At about 4 p.m. Sandra Z. locked up her e-bike in Leipzig city centre, but just a while later, she had a great shock. When she returned to her bike around 5 p.m., she found that it had been stolen. A bike thief had made off with her beloved bike in the span of just one hour.

She reported the theft to the IT’S MY BIKE Hunter Team immediately in the app. What the thief didn’t realise was that Sandra Z.’s e-bike was equipped with a GPS tracker. The Bike Hunters wasted no time in launching a search once the theft was reported.

Shortly after taking the bike, the thief rode it northwards from Leipzig city centre and past the Rosental Hill and Leipzig zoo before coming to a stop in the district of Gohlis around 4.30 p.m.

The Bike Hunters picked up a signal from the tracker just a few days later, around 5.30 p.m. on 1 April. The thief was on the move again. The Bike Hunters alerted the police immediately. The thief was travelling with the bike by train towards the Zentrum-Ost district. He got out at Völkerschlachtdenkmal station and rode towards the city’s allotment association grounds. Using the tracker, the Bike Hunters were able to trace the signal and transmitted directly to the police. Once alerted, the police drove to the indicated location, arriving there about 6.30 p.m. No-one could have anticipated finding what they discovered there: they encountered a whole array of bicycles. The officers managed to seize more than 30 stolen bikes. Sandra Z. was also able to get her beloved e-bike back.

*Name changed

Stock image: Adobe Stock