Last week, the Italian national team had around twenty bikes stolen from its hotel in Marcq-en-Barœul on the sidelines of the world track cycling championships in Roubaix. They were found… in Romania.
They have come a long way! The bikes of Italian riders, stolen during the world track cycling championships in Roubaix, have been found in Romania, the Romanian anti-mafia prosecution announced yesterday in a statement. Four suspects were reportedly caught red-handed trying to resell the stolen bikes.
“We caught them in action as they were trying to sell some of them for small amounts of money, around 1,500 euros each. We recovered the 22 bikes.“, declared the Romanian prosecutors.
During the operation, the police also seized drugs, phones, cash and screens. The thieves were suspected of bringing cocaine into the country. Investigators discovered that they were also involved in the theft of property.
On this video shared by the Romanian police, we see some of the bikes found.
The four people were taken into custody. They were charged with drug trafficking in Romania and theft.
A loss of 600,000 euros
As a reminder, the bikes, which were in a vehicle, had been stolen from a hotel in Marcq-en-Baroeul, after being “left unattended for many hours “, according to a source within the French police. The damage was then assessed at 600,000 euros.
Despite the disappearance of the bikes, the Italian national team was able to compete and even won several medals including that of Elia Viviani (world champion in the elimination race on Sunday) who had four personal bikes stolen.
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