The very expensive hand bikes by Ilse van Hooijdonk and Bart Boogaard were stolen yesterday morning in Ramplaankwartier in Haarlem. Faster than expected, they found their hand bikes in a very special way. “I just got the handbike out of my car and can hardly believe it.”
The arrest of the suspect in Parkwijk was created thanks to a smart example of digital investigation by Bart Boogaard and his wife Jacky. In an attempt to detect the stolen hand bikes, Jacky placed a call on Marktplaats in which they indicated that they are interested in a hand bike. It didn’t take long before a man responded. He had two for sale – for 1100 euros.
Barbecue
In order not to arouse suspicion, Bart and Jacky first offered a barbecue from the wide range of the seller. They made an appointment to pick it up later that afternoon. But when they were coming at the agreed time, they were not alone. The police, now informed, was on site and found the stolen hand bikes, Bart and Ilse say.
The bikes were immediately returned to Ilse and Bart, and the man was arrested.
Ilse and Bart are now very happy their hand bikes are in possession again. “I really had a headache of grief about the theft,” says Ilse. “And now that! Great.” Bart adds: “The emotions go in all directions. First the mourning and now an incredible joy. I just come from it, I just get the handbike out of my car and can hardly believe it.”
Ilse and Bart got to know each other during their rehabilitation at Heliomare in Wijk aan Zee. Ilse recovered from the amputation of her right leg after bone cancer, while Bart rehabilitated from an incomplete spinal cord injury, caused by a tumor in his back. Both were looking for new challenges and registered for the Handbikebattle, a heavy performance trip to the Kaunertaler Glacier in Tyrol. Their first joint training took place last Saturday.
Text walk on after the report on the first training of Ilse and Bart on Saturday at the heading of Bloemendaal.
The joy about their participation changed in desperation when their hand bikes were brutally stolen. While they were preparing in the garden with the preparation for a recovery training, Bart had briefly put the bikes unguarded on the sidewalk behind his house. When they returned, the sidewalk was empty. “What went through us then cannot be described,” says Ilse. “We saw our dream, participating in the handbikebattle, going up in smoke.”
Good ending
Eventually everything worked out well, thanks to the decisive search by Barts Vrouw Jacky and the resolute action of the police. But also because of the silliness of the suspect. “How do you get it in your head?”, Ilse sighs. “Put those hand bikes on Marktplaats the same day. And that for 1100 euros, while they are worth 11,000 euros.”
The police have not yet confirmed the incident to NH.