Bike theft backfires on unlucky offender

A man who stole a bike from the police station where he was punished for another offense has been sentenced to a four-month detention with a four-month reprieve.

The thief, surnamed Qiu, a jobless man in his 60s, has been jailed several times for drug offenses, according to Jing’an District People’s Court.

He was arrested for another offense on July 12. The court didn’t reveal what that offense was but said when he was leaving the police station, he spotted a fairly new bike parked nearby.

He managed to unlock it and rode it away, later selling the bike, worth 600 yuan (US$90), for 200 yuan, the court said.

The bike’s owner is a police officer at the station. He reviewed monitoring videos and tracked down Qiu. During police interrogation, Qiu said he had spent the money from the bike sale on drugs.