WATCH: uMgeni bicycle thieves caught on tape
12 bicycles were stolen on the same night in a two kilometre radius in uMgeni Park.
VIDEO footage has emerged of bicycle thieves stealing seven bikes, worth more than R150 000 worth of equipment from an uMgeni Park home. The Chicks Drive resident, Sean Lucien has now put upped the reward to R20 000 for the return of the bicycles.
The thieves also stole an iPhone and several tools from Lucien’s garage in the break-in. Lucien, who is part of the Shut Up & Ride cycling club said three of the bikes were used for underprivileged cyclists.
In the video, at the three second and eight second mark, you see two thieves rolling the bicycles down the road. An awaiting vehicle, a Toyota Hilux is parked down Buttery Road. The driver of the vehicle flashes his lights several times to show the thieves where to go.
The video then shows Lucien driving after the thieves in his van.
“I heard my dogs barking initially and I had just stuck my head over the window when I spotted a foot going over the wall. That’s when I knew they had broken in. I ran out of my house and straight into my van. I expected them to be on foot. It was only after viewing the footage that I saw the Hilux, which had all of my bicycles packed in the back drive right past me. As I was driving down Buttery Road, they were fleeing in the opposite direction,” he said.
Lucien added 12 bicycles were stolen that night in a two kilometre radius.
“These are not common thieves, this is a syndicate. My suspicion is the bicycles are smuggled over the border and then repainted and sold to the European market,” the avid cyclist said.
There has been a spate of bicycle thefts in the area in the past seven months with police speculating a criminal syndicate was involved.
In June, a bicycle thief was caught on camera at a home in Park Hill. In January, Durban North SAPS arrested a man who stole a bicycle worth R40 000.
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