In 2024, Berlin saw more than 24,000 bicycles stolen worth around €33 million, with mostly foreign gangs being blamed for the massive thefts. Now, there are growing calls to introduce targeted checks on Germany’s border with Poland, not to counter illegal migration but to stop organized crime groups from taking stolen bikes across the border.
“The number of unreported cases is probably much higher. Even before the peak of bicycle thefts in the summer months, 4,740 bicycles had already been reported stolen this year — worth €6 million,” German newspaper Tagesspiegel reports, claiming Eastern European criminal groups are to blame.
Bicycles including electric ones, often costing several thousand euros, are taken by van to Poland and then sold in Eastern Europe. The paper even claimed that one Romanian gang, dismantled earlier this year by police, lived legally in Berlin, received social benefits and earned money by stealing bicycles.
Given the ease with which thieves can remove, switch off, and bypass bike locks, location chips and other security measures, Tagesspiegel is asking the government to take the situation of growing bike theft more seriously and recognizing the foreign organized criminal element involved. Namely, they want targeted checks at the border, specifically, transport vans traveling from Berlin.
“The fight against bicycle theft does not seem to be the focus of the police or authorities,” the daily says, stating that bikes are more than a recreational vehicle, as they serve as the primary method of transport for many.
The fact that Berlin is one of the most pro-open borders cities in the world, and those open borders are now being used to attack the city’s cherished bicycle culture offers quite the contradiction. In short, green options like riding a bicycle or taking a train are increasingly dangerous or simply not possible to pro-migration policies.
However, it is not just bicycles these thieves are targeting. Cars are actually the main target, and such thefts are soaring. In 2024, 7,574 cars were stolen, the second highest number in the last ten years. Only 14 percent of these cases are solved, and usually only if the owners notice the stolen car quickly and police are able to stop the thieves in Brandenburg. Usually, the thieves get away.
In 2024, the theft of cars hit Berliners’ pocketbooks far worse than bicycles, totaling €146 million worth of losses.
To fix these problems, Tagesspiegel touches the “third rail” and calls for stricter border controls.
“Border controls aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and are controversial due to the debate about migration policy. But why always think in one direction? Why aren’t the transporters coming from the direction of Berlin specifically checked at the border with Poland? The conservative-red coalition can exert pressure at the federal level; the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for the federal police, will soon be in the hands of the CDU/CSU. Solutions to a problem that affects people on a massive scale would be possible. And tangible,” wrirtes the author.
