Espoo police are working hard to fight bicycle theft.
Last Wednesday, officers reported the capture of at least three men and the recovery of several expensive brand bicycles such as Jopo or Merida.
Just a day later, the police issued another press release reporting three other arrests and the finding of more stolen high-end bicycles. One of the suspects admitted that he had planned to take the bikes out of Finland and then sell them in his home country. The other is an illegal resident on whom a deportation order is pending.
Night arrest in Mäkkylä station
According to police information, two men were arrested last night for stealing bikes from a bicycle storage in a residential building in Perkka. A resident alerted police that someone had broken into the bike depot of their apartment building and then left with a stolen Focus bicycle towards Mäkkylä, a small area in the Leppävaara district.
A police patrol followed the perpetrator and found near the Mäkkylä train station a foreign van with the stolen bicycle inside. A man tried to escape but was caught. He admitted having received instructions from a compatriot to steal bicycles for resale in his home country. The police did not say what country it is.
Stolen Fixie and KTMs
About 20 minutes later, the same resident notified the police that they had seen another bicycle from the same bike depot. A man was caught in Leppävaara riding a stolen Fixie. According to the police, he was carrying a backpack with tools to break and an angle grinder to cut the locks of the bikes inside.
Both men have been taken into custody. According to police, they did not know each other.
Two KTM mountain bikes had also been stolen from the yard of a detached house in Kalajärvi. According to police information, the owner had noticed that both were on sale on Facebook's MarketPlace. The sale would take place near the Kalajärvi shopping center.
A police patrol went to the scene and caught the seller with the help of the owner. One of the bicycles was later found in a nearby apartment, but the other had already been sold. A subsequent police investigation revealed that the suspect is illegally in the country and his deportation is being prepared.
