A member of the Garda, in her first week on the job, has explained how she yesterday caught a bike thief in an undercover sting operation she put in place very quickly online.
The stolen bike has also be recovered and reunited with its owner, in a rare happy ending for the victim of bike thefts; a problem which has grown to worrying levels in Ireland over the last decade.
The latest incident began last Saturday when a women had her Cube racing bike stolen from outside her workplace. She called to Ballymun Garda station on Sunday and reported the theft, at which point the operation to retrieve it began.
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"The woman had a quick look online on the off-chance that the thief had advertised it for sale, and low and behold there it was. The thief was hoping to flog it for less than half price," the Garda said online.
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"We set up a profile on the resale site and engaged with the advertiser unbeknownst to him. After some back and forth on the deal, we agreed to meet him at a location in Dublin 9 yesterday afternoon to buy the bike. Happy days. Ka-ching he must have thought.
"Oh we were there as we had agreed, alright. Just in plain clothes and an unmarked car. He was arrested under suspicion of possessing stolen goods and detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.
"The bicycle was returned to its rightful owner. A decent result for the Garda that took the lead on this - her first week on the job."
