Police seize 25 stolen motorcycles

25 motorcycles stolen from across Europe, from manufacturers including BMW, KTM, Suzuki and Harley-Davidson, along with a jet ski and quad bike, have been found by police in the courtyard of a house near Chernivtsi, western Ukraine.

Police are reported to have also found a large number of spare parts, along with the haul of bikes that were in various stages of disassembly.

The owner of the property didn’t have any registration documents, and couldn’t explain why he had such a large number of motorcycles, so the bikes were seized. Police later discovered that the machines had been stolen during 2017 from countries throughout the European Union, and were on an international watch list.

Ukraine is not a member state of the EU, and unfortunately doesn’t have a very good history of engaging with law-enforcement officers from other countries in relation to stolen vehicles. Large numbers of bikes and cars taken from Europe are offered openly for sale – without any documents – on Ukrainian websites, many with their original registrations and VIN plates intact.

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