E-bike with GPS tracker stolen in Cologne
It was 7 February. Peter R.’s* bike was parked safely in his stairway, south of Cologne city centre. At least he thought it was. But while Peter R. was asleep, a bike thief started tampering with his e-bike at 2.45 a.m., in the middle of the night, and took it away, loading it into his escape vehicle. The thief drove his car westwards along the A4 autobahn, away from the centre. The thief left the motorway at the Cologne-West junction, where the A4 crosses the A1, and headed towards Junkersdorf. He came to halt near the Georg Buchner High School at around 3.40 a.m.
During the course of the night, the bike thief had managed to move far, but Peter R. didn’t notice the bike was missing until morning. Around 7.00 a.m., he reported the theft in the IT’S MY BIKE app as his e-bike was fortunately equipped with a GPS tracker.
The Bike Hunters promptly reconstructed the thief’s trail and informed the police. Once alerted, the officers immediately set out, heading towards the signal’s last location on Potsdamer Strasse, where they encountered a suspicious vehicle at 9.40 a.m. They started by attempting to trigger the tracker’s motion alarm by rocking the car. The Bike Hunters received the first signal at 9.40 a.m. and notified the police. The officers then started arranging for the vehicle to be towed away.
The car was finally towed at 11:15 a.m. and the police managed to recover the bicycle. In addition to Peter R.’s bike, the officers discovered two more bicycles that the victim believed may have also come from his building.
*Name changed
Stock image: Adobe Stock