Vancouver Police have made a substantial seizure of stolen property in the city’s eastside. Officers have recovered 148 stolen bicycles, scooters and electric bicycles, worth tens of thousands of dollars.
On August 29, patrol officers investigating an unrelated incident in the 800-block of Powell Street, were led to a nearby storage facility. During their investigation, they discovered multiple storage lockers filled with stolen bicycles.
“This is an example of excellent, proactive police work by our front line officers,” says Sergeant Aaron Roed, VPD. “Now, we will work on returning all of these bikes to their rightful owners.”
Regrettably, bicycles continue to be stolen all over the city. Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,600 bicycles have been reported stolen in Vancouver.
“Often, when we are dealing with reports of stolen bikes, we find that owners are unable to provide serial numbers or other identifying descriptions that could help us get their bike back to them,” adds Roed. “We encourage all bike owners to register their bicycles with the serial numbers, free-of-charge, in the 529 Garage registration and recovery program.”
Police are working to get the stolen bikes back to their owners by consulting existing police reports and working with 529 Garage. If anyone has not reported their bike stolen to VPD, they are asked to do so using the online crime reporting system or by calling the non-emergency police line.
Three men from Vancouver and one man from Surrey were arrested in relation to the seizure and released without charges. Vancouver Police are continuing to investigate and may recommend charges based on the applicable evidence.
For more information about how you can keep your ride secure, please visit www.vpd.ca.
