Following a series of bicycle thefts in Murten in June 2025, the Freiburg cantonal police confiscated around sixty bicycles and brought charges against five suspected perpetrators, Swiss police announced, Express reports.
The seized bicycles have a total estimated value of over 250,000 Swiss francs.
In June 2025, when the city of Murten was facing an increase in bicycle thefts, cantonal police officers discovered a person stealing two bicycles in the swimming pool parking lot.
The bicycles were loaded into a van and then taken to a warehouse in Villars-sur-Glâne. Police arrested two men at the scene: the driver, a 37-year-old citizen of North Macedonia, and the warehouse tenant, a 44-year-old citizen of Kosovo, both residents of the canton of Fribourg.
During the search of the delivery van and storage room, emergency services seized more than sixty bicycles of various types, including electric bicycles, road bikes and mountain bikes.
Further investigation revealed that around fifteen bicycles had been stolen in the canton of Fribourg. The rest had been stolen in the cantons of Bern, Neuchâtel, Solothurn and Lucerne.
The total value of the stolen goods is estimated at over 250,000 Swiss francs. According to the investigation, the seized material supplied a criminal network specializing in bicycle theft and their transport to the Balkans, where the bicycles are resold.
In addition to the two men detained, police identified three other individuals, aged 21, 24 and 26, from North Macedonia with no known address. The fifth will be reported to the public prosecutor's office for organized and commercial theft, as well as commercial receipt of stolen goods.
The Freiburg cantonal police also issue recommendations for bicycle owners, including the use of high-quality locks, bicycle registration and special care when purchasing used bicycles.
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