Stolen after mountain tour

Surveillance camera films brazen e-bike thief

(Bild: mmphoto - stock.adobe.com)

A bike-and-hike tour in the Tyrolean lowlands ended in a nasty surprise for two men on Sunday. After the sportsmen had climbed a mountain, one of their two e-bikes was suddenly missing when they returned. The suspected thief of the 9500 euro bike was quickly found - and he had an interesting justification for his "theft". 

The two locals had first ridden the e-bike to the high point of the Farmkehrhütte in Inneralpbach (Kufstein district). From there, they continued on foot to the Großer Galtenberg (around 2400 meters). The two men left their electric bikes unlocked.

In the course of viewing the footage from a video surveillance camera, one of the suspects was seen riding his bike in Alpbach at 3.24 pm.

Die Polizei

A fatal mistake: when they returned at around 3 p.m., only one of the two e-bikes was still in the parking lot. "In the course of viewing the footage from a video surveillance camera, a suspect was seen on the bike in Alpbach at 3.24 p.m.," said the investigators, who published a description of the person.

Local man found bike, police found thief
However, a manhunt for the perpetrator was no longer necessary. A local discovered the bike near the congress center in Alpbach and recognized it - probably also because the incident was diligently shared on social media. The finder contacted the police, who quickly tracked down the alleged bike thief after receiving a few tips. 

Cheeky hiker didn't want to walk
It was a German holidaymaker who had a cheeky explanation for the theft: he had discovered the bike after a hike and did not want to walk the long way back to the valley. He therefore grabbed the e-bike and rode it back to the village. 

According to the police, this act does not constitute theft and is therefore not a criminal offense. The expensive e-bike has since been returned to its owner. Instead of the German, it was he who had to hike back to the valley on Sunday.