On September 30th, Xi'an Public Security Department reported a bizarre theft case that attracted attention.
Four men attempted to become wealthy by stealing shared bicycles. They carefully planned their actions, rented bikes and apartments, and formed a group to carry out the crime. They worked hard for a full 8 days, stealing 13 tons of shared bicycles and selling them as scrap metal. As a result, they not only made no profit, but also incurred costs after deducting various expenses. The police tracked down the criminals, and all four were arrested. They have now been taken into criminal compulsory measures according to the law.
In August this year, suspect Liu heard people talking about the difficulties faced by the bike-sharing industry. He thought that since the market for bicycles was not good, it would be a sure way to make quick money to secretly dismantle and sell the bicycles as scrap metal.
Subsequently, Liu immediately gathered three friends who had no fixed income and formed a theft gang, aiming to take risks and engage in illegal activities for profit.
In order to transport stolen vehicles, Liu specifically borrowed money to rent a truck; in order to hide and disassemble the vehicles, he rented an independent storage room in the suburbs; in order to win over accomplices to work for him, he offered a ‘high salary’ of 500 yuan per person per day. Once all preparations were complete, the four officially began their outrageous operations of night-time theft.
In just 8 days, 4 people drove trucks late at night and traveled through several areas in Xi'an, Shaanxi. They specifically targeted shared bicycles parked along the roadside and carried out violent thefts. In just a few days, they stole more than 300 shared bicycles from three different platforms, with a total weight of up to 13 tons.
In order to avoid being tracked by the platform and keep a low profile, the group transferred all the stolen bicycles to a warehouse in the suburbs. They removed the tracking devices from each bicycle. Then, pretending to be staff of the platform, they sold the entire bicycles as scrap metal at a price of 4000 yuan per ton.
After several rounds of reselling, the gang's total turnover reached more than 50,000 yuan. It seems like a great success, but when the main culprit, Liu, carefully calculated the costs, he was completely shocked.
Over fifty thousand yuan in proceeds from selling stolen goods may seem substantial, but after deducting expenses such as truck rental fees, warehouse rentals, bribes to associates, and labor costs for dismantling the items… there was no profit made at all. Instead, losses were incurred, and even the suspects themselves considered this absurd. Just as those individuals were planning how to “cover the losses,” the police had already traced all the clues.
Currently, four suspects including Liu have been subjected to criminal compulsory measures by the Xi'an Economic Development Zone Public Security Department due to suspicion of theft.
Any attempt to profit by stealing or appropriating public or private property is considered illegal and criminal behavior, and will inevitably lead to severe legal sanctions. Do not take chances due to momentary greed, as crossing the legal line will ultimately cost you dearly for your absurd actions.
At the same time, we remind all bicycle-sharing operating companies to strengthen daily inspections of vehicles and upgrade intelligent prevention technologies. If any abnormal loss or theft of vehicles is detected, they should report it to the authorities promptly for handling, so as to jointly protect urban public order and public property safety.
