It was the newspaper L’Equipe that spotted the information: the Romanian police announced that they had arrested four people suspected of having stolen the 22 bikes of the Italian cycling team.
The theft took place on the night of Friday 22 to Saturday 23 October: the bikes, worth € 600,000 in all, were stolen in the middle of the night, in the team vehicles parked in front of a hotel in Marcq-en-Barœul, near Lille, while the team was participating in the world track cycling championships in Roubaix.
However, it was recommended that the teams leave their bikes inside the velodrome, but the Italian team preferred to keep them with it. Bikes which also had symbolic value since they had enabled the Italian men’s pursuit team to win the gold medal at the last Olympic games this summer.
Caught in the act of reselling stolen bikes
In an official press release,Romanian police say four people were arrested in this case,after being caught red-handed trying to resell the stolen bikes.
14 searches were carried out in houses and apartments: 21 bicycles were identified and seized, as well as screens, telephones and even cash. Romanian police say these four people will be brought to justice for pre-trial detention.
This seizure comes as part of an investigation started at the beginning of 2021 by the Romanian police. It targeted four men who appeared to be operating together to smuggle cocaine into the country. The investigation led investigators to another activity of the group, involving stolen goods from several European countries.
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