The surveillance camera images don’t lie. A man in a balaclava chops open the door of Unlimited Colors in Venhorst with an ax. That is a store for exclusive racing bicycles. The thieves took eight expensive bicycles and left behind an angry and sad shop owner. The damage is tens of thousands of euros.
Owner Jim Cranen was woken up when the alarm went off in his bicycle shop. “I saw on the images from our security camera that at that moment a man was ramming our door with an axe. I quickly jumped out of bed because I wanted to go there. The windshield of my car was frozen, I have the ice off. scraped off with my bare hands. And on the way I called the police.”
Once he arrived at the store, Jim saw that the front door was open and he heard the alarm sounding. “I went in with the police. The store was full of smoke because the fog generators had gone off. When the smoke cleared, I saw that expensive bicycles were gone. It’s really bad that they were stolen, I was very proud of those bicycles .” Jim estimates the total damage at around 70,000 euros.
“Our exclusive bicycles were located here, they were all taken.”
Jim points to a podium in the showroom. There is an empty stand. “Our exclusive show bicycles were located here, and they were all taken. A customer’s bicycle was also taken. He was not happy, because his bicycle was worth 15,000 euros.”
As a stroke of luck, other customers’ bicycles were at the back of the workshop. The thieves weren’t there. Because within a minute the place was full of smoke due to the fog generators and you could no longer see your hand in front of your eyes. “But many customers are concerned about whether their bicycle is still there. I have already received a lot of worried calls and messages.”
“Those bicycles are unique. There are no second ones, so they are difficult to trade.”
Jim is hopeful that the bicycles will be found. “These bicycles are custom-made and unique. There are no second ones, so they are difficult to trade. If they are offered somewhere, we will probably be warned.” In addition, he has the license plate of a van that may have been involved in the robbery. According to him, that license plate was known to the police. The perpetrators may therefore be traced.
Some time ago, according to Jim, there were more burglaries at bicycle shops. “It was quiet again for a while. But now unfortunately it has happened again.”