Police are hoping to find the legitimate owner of a mountain bike that was seized in south Nanaimo on Christmas Eve.
According to a Nanaimo RCMP press release, an officer stopped a 32-year-old man who was riding the bike as he was cycling down the wrong side of View Street and wasn’t wearing a helmet.
When the officer spoke with the rider he noticed the bike, including its Rock Shox components and serial number, was covered in duct tape.
The cyclist told the officer he paid $300 for the bike, but offered no further explanation for how he came to be in possession of it, so the officer formed the opinion that the bike was most likely stolen and the man voluntarily gave the bike over to the officer. He was then presented with violation tickets for operating a bike without a helmet and riding on the wrong side of the road.
The bike’s number was checked on police databases, but at that time it had not been reported stolen. The bike is a green and grey Giant Reign with an estimated value of $2,500-$3,000. Anyone with information about who owns the bike is asked to call the Nanaimo RCMP non-emergency line at 250-754-2345 and quote file No. 2020-45715.
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