Jochen, a man in his 20s from the Flemish Brabant city of Leuven, has found his stolen bicycle in the Brussels municipality of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek more than 30km from where it was taken. He found his bike along with dozens of other stolen cycles in a van that was just about to leave the country. He was able to find his bicycle as he had fitted it with a tracker.
Jochen told VRT News that as it wasn’t the first time that his bike had been stolen he had decided to fit it with a tracking device. This enables him to locate his bike at any time. He saw that his bike was in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, a municipality in the west of Brussels and around 30km from Leuven via the shortest route.
"My heavy-duty lock had been cut through just like that in the middle of Leuven. We had plans to meet up with friends that evening, but these were abandoned, and I left for Brussels with 2 friends. The tracker led us to a courtyard that was surrounded by buildings."
Local residents let Jochen and his friends inside one of the buildings. "From the window we saw a white van with a blue tarpaulin on the roof. We could clearly see bicycles sticking out from under the tarpaulin. We took a photograph and the information we had from the tracker to the police. With the tracker I could show that my bike was inside the van”.
The police were soon able to locate the owner of the van. “Man was just up the road in a café. He was told to open up the van. When he did bikes almost fell out. In addition to bicycles there were also other stolen goods inside, including a strimmer and an e-scooter. The owner of the van was taken to the police station”.
Jochen was able to prove that the bike was his and it is now back where it belongs. “I am very grateful to the police for their help. The bus was ready to leave the country, so I was lucky”.