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Shocking moment thieves break into bike store and vault fence to make getaway caught on camera

Neighbour gave chase after thieves prised open alarmed unit and used bolt-cutters to cut locks in Edinburgh burglary

Thieves ​in Edinburgh have been filmed making their getaway with two bicycles after they broke into an alarmed bike store at a house in The Inch district of the Scottish capital.

The footage of the theft, which took place last Thursday 11 November at around noon, was posted to Facebook by Edison Mallare, who said that it had left him “shaken and very angry because they even threaten my family.”

Photographs also posted to Facebook show that the thieves prised open the top of the bike storage unit before cutting through a cable lock securing the bikes in what appears to be a well-planned operation.

The Inch bike theft via Facebook 2.PNG
The Inch bike theft via Facebook 3.PNG

In the video, the pair of miscreants – both dressed in black and wearing hoods and masks – can be seen tossing the bikes over the garden fence, where at least one accomplice is waiting, before vaulting it themselves.

Edison, who was at work at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at the time, told road.cc: “My son filmed this while my daughter was calling the police.

“My wife ran downstairs and locked the back door as the third guy in the grey tracksuit was approaching our back door with a piece of log threatening to hit whoever came out to stop them.”

The footage shows the family’s next-door neighbour rushing out and climbing on top of the fence before stopping, presumably because the thieves have already made their getaway.

However, in a reply to a comment on Facebook, Edison said that another neighbour had recovered one of the bikes, adding, “Still good people out there.”

That bike belongs to his wife, and Edison told road.cc that he believed the thieves had left it in an alleyway because during the theft the rear mudguard was dented, causing the wheel to seize, meaning they could not ride it away.

He added that “the alarm went off and the bikes were double locked with cables,” but they “ did not stand a chance against bolt cutters,” and that the “Asgard bike storage was not secured against the cutter as they cut the shroud cover for the padlocks.”

The bike the thieves did get away with is a red Orbea Wild FS.

The Inch bike theft via Facebook 5
The Inch bike theft via Facebook 4

It is the latest in a series of robberies and thefts of bicycles across the UK that we have reported on in recent weeks, many taking place in broad daylight and in the presence of witnesses.

Last month, the Metropolitan Police arrested a youth following a string of bikejackings by thieves on mopeds in London’s Richmond Park, with the victims in some cases threatened with machetes.

> Youth arrested in connection with Richmond Park bikejackings as local MP raises concerns over policing levels

In Birmingham, West Midlands Police have stepped up patrols on the city’s waterways after a number of incidents in which cyclists have been mugged for their bikes while riding along canal towpaths.

> Birmingham cyclist attacked by gang in violent bikejacking with thieves stealing £3,500 bike

And earlier this month in Surrey Quays, south London, thieves used an angle grinder to cut through a lock to steal an e-bike outside the busy shopping centre, with footage taken by a bystander passed to the bike’s owner and police in a bid to track down the gang.

> “Possible ID” on member of Surrey Quays angle-grinder bike theft gang passed on to police

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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2 comments

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RoubaixCube | 2 years ago
7 likes

Had to have been locals who knew that some valuable bikes were locked in there??

An outsider wouldnt have known there was a storage locker in the garden or even be paying attention and observant enough to get a glimpse of one and know what it was let alone what was inside it unless they had seen it before and were deliberately out targeting it. Seems like a lot of hassle to break into it if you didnt know if there would be anything of value worth stealing inside.

an opportunist thief will look for an opportunity and will be in and out in a matter of seconds. This families storage unit was deliberately targeted in an organised premeditated manner.

Avatar
joe9090 | 2 years ago
4 likes

Castration would be too lenient for these hoodlums. 

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