How ‘Albanian bike-jackers are focusing on British riders

Albanian gangs are focusing on British riders and transport the stolen bicycles to Russia the place high-end bikes are laborious to pay money for due to sanctions, police have stated.

Ruthless bike-jackers are stated to be stalking riders in rich components of London akin to Regent’s Park, with a spate of thefts going down between 5am and 7am in current months earlier than vehicles are allowed in.

One bike owner driving a £15,000 Pinarello bike was focused right here by robbers on a bike who have been heard shouting: ‘This is on the checklist.’

Have YOU had your bike stolen? Email [email protected] 

The Times studies that victims have been informed by police that the assaults are being carried out by an Albanian gang who’re sending the autos to Russia amid sanctions imposed on the nation following Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine. 

Plenty of British bike owner organisations, together with bike producer Brompton, are understood to be making ready to write down to Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley in a bid to have extra officers patrolling the realm.

The Regent’s Park Cyclists group stated that greater than 30 golf equipment, that are made up of greater than 5,000 members, have resorted to driving to the realm in giant teams for their very own security.

‘Brazen’ thieves use an angle grinder to steal cargo household bike from avenue in south London

Scott, 49, who was focused whereas driving his £15,000 Pinarello Dogma in December, informed The Times: ‘I used to be driving at about 5am when two guys idled as much as me on a bike and one stated to the opposite, ‘It’s on the checklist.’ 

‘They informed me to ‘get off the f***ing bike’ and tried to drive me off the street. I fell off and a automotive stopped and opened the door. I threw my bike in and jumped in and the fellows continued to trip across the automotive shouting, ‘Get out the f***ing automotive.’

‘It was fairly scary. They continued to attend exterior the automotive yelling at us after which a safety guard got here by they usually took off.’

And 54-year-old Simon Fox, who was attacked close to Regent’s Park at 6.15am in November had his £5,000 Cannondale bike stolen.

Mr Fox, who has been biking within the space for years, stated he has by no means had issues earlier than however that he has heard there was a rise in incidents. 

A 3rd rider, who was attacked whereas driving his Brompton in December close to King’s Cross stated that he was confronted by two males on mopeds. 

They claimed that one of many robbers gestured as if he was going to tug a knife out earlier than he was repeatedly kicked within the head and decrease again by each thugs.

In October 2023, a 72-year-old bike owner referred to as John was robbed of his £2,000 e-bike close to Regent’s Park.

In an interview with Stolen Ride, he stated: ‘I used to be driving on the east facet of the outer circle in Regent’s Park and I used to be heading in the direction of the West End. 

‘It was pouring down with rain and the visibility was very poor as the road lighting across the outer circle was not excellent and the heavy rain made it worse.

‘The incident occurred simply earlier than Chester Gate, the very first thing I heard was one other car developing behind me, which isn’t unusual and I used to be anticipating it to cross me by. The subsequent factor I observed was its head lights reflecting off the moist street very near me.

‘I used to be nearly to go searching to see what it was when it ran into me, knocking me off my bike. I fell onto the pavement and my bike crashed down onto the street. 

This £2,000 e-bike was stolen from a 72-year-old bike owner close to Regent’s Park on October 24

The second a person was robbed of his bike in Hatfield, Doncaster, was caught on digital camera

‘I used to be selecting myself up when one of many thieves got here in the direction of me shining a light-weight, probably a torch, into my face which completely blinded me shouting to again off, again off which I did as I assumed he had a knife. When I refocused my imaginative and prescient they have been gone off down the street taking my cycle with them.

‘It was throughout in about 20/25 seconds.’

‘The solely damage I sustained was a pressure on my proper hip as I’ve had a complete hip joint substitute in my proper hip which is the rationale I trip an electrical help cycle.’

He added: ‘I used to be fortunate on this event, it might have been much more critical and I do know another cyclists who’ve been bike-jacked have been victims of great violence.’ 

Speaking concerning the impression of the spate of thefts, he continued: ‘The London biking neighborhood is scared, pissed off and offended.

‘Our members really feel susceptible and unsafe; we all know that the majority of them have lowered their biking as a direct results of these assaults. Our feminine members, already significantly susceptible to crime when biking, are significantly affected. This is having important psychological, social, and bodily well being implications.’

The bike thefts resemble the assaults carried out by ‘Rolex ripper’ gangs, who’ve been focusing on rich watch house owners in London. 

A Met Police spokesman stated: ‘There are over 1.2 million bike journeys a yr in London, the bulk occur with out incident. But we’re doing all that we are able to to stop robberies and thefts focused at cyclists as we perceive it’s a rising concern for some Londoners.

‘Through our new Cycle Crime Reduction partnership we’re working to make it tougher to promote on stolen bikes by way of the second-hand market. We even have extra officers in hotspot places, the place our intelligence tells us victims could also be extra in danger.

‘We are additionally holding day by day pop-up occasions throughout London that work to teach and advise cyclists on easy methods to retailer their bikes safely, in addition to encouraging them to register their bike with the Met at no cost so we are able to monitor them if they’re stolen.’

Have YOU had your bike stolen? Email [email protected]