The woman made an appointment on Saturday, August 16, at 3:00 PM to buy her new bike at the sports center on Stappegoorweg. She agreed with the police that she would send a message when she was sure that it was her bike that the seller had with him. As promised, she did.

Seller Runs Through the Ice Rink into a New Housing Area
Once the deal was sealed, police cars arrived. The seller was likely startled by this and took off like a hare. He ran into the sports center, closely followed by officers. In the ice rink, he ran over the stands, jumped off, and exited the building through the emergency exit. Fortunately, the pursuing police officers were also fit, and they were able to keep following the man. Even when he climbed over a fence and ran onto a construction site of a new housing area. The distance between the police and the suspect grew slightly, and for a moment the officers lost sight of the man. But then a vigilant resident alerted the officers that he had seen a man running hard in a street further down.

The officers went to the designated spot and saw the man just disappearing into a bush to hide. Since he had been spotted again, he ran away once more. Now a few local residents decided to help the police, and they held the suspect back. The suspect could then be arrested. He was a 19-year-old from Poppel (B). He was handcuffed and taken to the police detention center. There he made a statement. In the evening, the man was released again. He will have to answer to the judge later.

Wrong Bike…
In the meantime, the investigation into the stolen bike continued. Unfortunately for the woman, the bike was not hers. But it was stolen from someone else. On August 14, the owner had locked it up somewhere on Ringbaan Oost in Tilburg. When she returned to the spot shortly after, only the lock remained. The bike can, because the owner had reported it stolen, quickly be returned to its rightful owner.

The 19-year-old Belgian had rented a car to transport the bike. The rental company has been notified and has retrieved the car from the parking lot on Stappegoorweg.