The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Three charged five months after raid on Fife bike shop
Two men and woman from Ayrshire due in court
Thousands of pounds worth of stolen bikes have been recovered by police, five months after a raid on a Fife shop.
Three people have been charged following a search of addresses in Ayrshire and the two men, aged 48 and 34, and a 36-year-old woman will appear in court in due course.
Along with some of the stock taken from Leslie Bike Shop on December 9, officers discovered Christmas trees, barbecues, lawn mowers, plants and statues which had been reported stolen from a garden centre in Dunfermline on October 17 and another garden centre in Broxburn on November 30.
Around 60 top-of-the-range bikes were taken from the bike shop at Bankhead Industrial Estate, Glenrothes, in an early morning break-in, described by owner Bryan Moodie as his “worst nightmare”.
Most were brand new and still in their boxes but two had been handed in by customers for repair.
CCTV images showed thieves loading the machines into a van before driving off. A number of the bikes have yet to be recovered.
A spokesman for Leslie Bike Shop thanked the police for their efforts and said they had received a huge amount of support from the public.
“Unfortunately, many of our bikes are still out there so please, if anybody has bought a bike or been offered bikes for sale in Ayrshire recently, perhaps at a reduced price or in unusual circumstances, we would encourage people to please contact Police Scotland,” he said.
Detective constable Fraser Simpson of Glenrothes CID said: “The incidents were reported last year and as a result of our investigation we are now able to return the property to its rightful owners.”