Thieves across the world have crisis of conscience and return stolen bikes

You wait ages for a bike thief to have a crisis of conscience and return a stolen bike to its rightful owner – then two come along at once, on opposite sides of the world, one in India, one in Canada.

Meanwhile, closer to home, a man in the Netherlands who collects bikes for a kids’ charity has been mistakenly fingered as a bicycle thief – after picking up a bike from outside the wrong house.

First off, let’s head to Assam, famed for its tea, in northeastern India where despite locking his bike up in a high-security compound at his official residence, Mrinal Saikia – a member of the state’s Legislative Assembly – returned to find it had gone.

After posting about the theft on Facebook and lodging a complaint with the Principal Secretary of the Assam Legislative Assembly, the bicycle was returned this morning, reports the Assam Tribune.

A bike thief had second thoughts too in Whitefish, Ontario, reports the Daily Inter Lake.

In its regular crime round-up, the newspaper said: “A regretful thief stole a man’s bicycle in Whitefish before returning it a few days later.

“The reformed person placed the bike in its original upright position with a note which said, ‘I’m sorry’,” the report added.

Even thieves in Canada fall into line with the cliché of the nation’s politeness, it seems.

As for the case of mistaken identity in the Netherlands, the English language website Eindhoven News reports that the man was labelled a “brutal bicycle thief” on social media after surveillance footage was posted showing him taking a bike from the front garden of a house in the city.

Charles Hermans, who was already towing dozens of bikes on his trailer, was shocked when he saw the images of himself circulating – the 73-year-old volunteers with the Royal Dutch Touring Club (ANWB), collecting bikes in Brabant province that have been donated for underprivileged children throughout Brabant. 

He said: “Today I picked up 46 bicycles. I’ve been doing this for half a year now. I have already collected 1,200 bicycles this month.”

It turned out that he had taken a bike from the wrong house. “People always put the bikes that need to be picked up in the front yard,” he explained. “I think I made a mistake.”

He has got in touch with the bike’s owner to arrange for its safe return.