A company bus, materials and a lot of tools. It is estimated that thieves stole 70,000 to 80,000 euros from the construction company of Kevin Lensvelt from Kaatsheuvel. He later saw on camera images that his stolen bus was used in another burglary in Goirle on Saturday night. And on Monday a call followed from the police from Goes.
When Kevin arrived at his construction company Bouwservice Lensvelt last Thursday morning, a door was open and the lights were on. It was wrong. He already realized that when he wanted to turn off the alarm at home. “I already saw on the camera images that the lights were on and that there was a fault in the alarm.”
“The ground drops from under your feet.”
His feeling turns out to be correct. The windows of the roller door were smashed, allowing the thieves to sneak in. A lot of loot was taken in a short time: a lot of valuable tools were gone and a bus was taken by the burglars. “The ground drops from under your feet when you find this. What you work hard for is taken away from you in seventeen minutes.”
According to Kevin, the perpetrators arrived in a car with a Romanian license plate. Surveillance images show how they enter the company hall wearing balaclavas. A little later they drive outside in his work van and disappear from view. In the hope of getting his belongings back, Bouwservice Lensvelt shared a number of photos of the burglary on Facebook.
A few days later, the company called Henk van Bijsterveldt Tuin en Parkmachines from Goirle. They were also broken into during the night from Saturday to Sunday. Striking detail: Kevin’s stolen MAN can be seen on camera images.
“The perpetrators even had the same clothes on.”
“When we zoomed in on our images, we saw that the bus belonged to Bouwservice Lensvelt. We googled the company and ended up with the Facebook message,” says Alida van Bijsterveldt.
Kevin recognized his own bus on the camera images. “It’s very strange that you see your own name on someone else’s images,” he says. “The perpetrators even had the same clothes on.”
According to Kevin, his MAN was also spotted during another burglary. “I just got a call from the police: my bus has already been burglarized in Goes.”
“I’m just happy we have this back.”
Machines and battery tools were stolen from companies in Goirle and Kaatsheuvel. Think of leaf blowers, grinders and milling machines. Material of great value, says Kevin. “You start with a number of machines and that continues to expand. For us it is the product we work with.”
Kevin has recovered some of the stolen items. Parts of the contents of the bus and the license plates were found on Sunday in Hapert, which he said were dumped there. “If you add this up, this is already a serious post. I’m just happy we have this back,” says Kevin. He says that his company can continue to run thanks to the help of other entrepreneurs.
A police spokesperson says that further investigation into the burglaries is ongoing, but cannot yet say with certainty whether they are related.
