Electric bike thefts: Alleged thief had 11 bicycles worth $58,000, ammunition at home

Police have caught an alleged serial bike thief, finding 11 electric bicycles worth $58,000 at the man’s home as well as 200 rounds of ammunition.

The 36-year-old man is charged with two counts of burglary and unlawful possession of ammunition and will appear in the Waitākere District Court next month.

Police found the man after receiving a report about stolen electric bikes in Parnell on January 23 and the following investigation.

“Three weeks later we received information that these items were being sold on Facebook,” Detective Sergeant Jimmy Kim said.

“The suspect was identified as living in West Auckland so our team followed up as we were aware that multiple e-bikes had also been stolen from around that area.”

Police executed a search warrant at an address on Great North Rd in Henderson where they found the bikes and ammunition.

Two hundred rounds of 0.22mm ammunition were at the property, Kim said.

And “so far we have established the bikes were stolen from Hobsonville, Albany, Ponsonby, Parnell, and Takapuna and have managed to return seven of them back to their rightful owners,” he said.

“Police take this type of offending seriously and work hard to hold offenders to account and I’d like to commend our staff for their work in identifying the alleged offender.”

The man will appear in court on March 14. Further charges were likely, a police spokeswoman said.