Police recover 1500 stolen bikes

OK, I apologize that this isn't Montreal news, but it is certainly eye-opening to see how "productive" a couple of bike thieves down the highway in Toronto were: police have recovered 1500 (one thousand five hundred!) stolen bikes.

One thousand and five hundred stolen bikes.

Wow.

The thieves were reselling the bikes in their used-bike shop, so as usual these thieves were not in the human-genius category!

Kudo's to police, who sometimes get a bad reputation for some of their less-respectful antics, for solving this bike-crime wave.

And more kudos to the police for avoiding red tape and bureaucratic procedures for citizens trying to get their stolen bikes back. Here in Montreal there have been news reports about people unable to recover their stolen bikes unless they filed a police report at the time of theft. Good ole Quebec bureaucracy to the rescue (NOT!).

We have had some very-loved bikes stolen, and we consider bike thieves to be the lowest form of life on our planet.

Here's a snip of the news article (read complete article here)

Torontonians hunted through row upon row of up-ended bicycles today, looking to re-claim their stolen property after police seized a record 1,500 bicycles associated with a notorious used bike store on Queen West.

“I’m not aware of any bicycle seizures in the last 28 years that are as great as this,” said Det. Sgt. Egidio Roseto. “It’s an enormous number of bikes that we’ve taken from some storage locations.”

Last week, police set up a “bait” bike operation that led them to stolen bicycles at the Bicycle Clinic, as well as at the owner’s residence, and two other storage garages.

You can read an excellent discussion on this bike shop, police action, and bike locking in general at the I Bike Toronto website by clicking here.