R10 000 reward for stolen vintage bikes
Gustav Bester collects vintage motorbikes - but about three weeks ago four were stolen from his priceless collection, apparently by a syndicate operating in Centurion.
Gustav Bester (46) put out a desperate plea on social media: If you find my vintage motorbikes, I will give you a reward of R10 000.
But after almost a month neither the police nor the public have traced his priceless collection – four off-road motorbikes – all from the eighties valued at R300 000 collectively.
Bester has been a fervent vintage bike collector for the past three years.
He had fifteen – from the sixties to the eighties – in his collection; one of the stolen motorbikes was imported from Canada.
“I did not ride them. I put eight of them in storage on my friend’s plot in Mnadi, on the outskirts of Centurion.”
“On 17 September – apparently in the early hours of the morning – the container in which the bikes were kept was broken open and the first four bikes (that stood near the entrance) were taken,” Bester said.
Bester immediately went to the Olievenhoutbosch police station to open a case of vehicle theft, but as the bikes were not registered in a vehicle database, the police could only open a case of possession of stolen property.
Constable Malefa Makena, police spokesperson, confirmed the theft. He could not comment on why the police could not open a case of vehicle theft.
Now Bester has roped in the specialist investigator, Mike Bolhuis, to find his stolen motorbikes.
Werner Koekemoer, an investigator working with Bolhuis, told Rekord on Monday, that they had received a few tips, but nothing to lead them to the bikes.
“I have heard rumours that a motorbike syndicate is operating in Centurion. This syndicate allegedly steals motorbikes to convert the engines into generators that can produce power for around 20 informal houses at the Spruit squatter camp,” Koekemoer said.
The squatter camp is just a stone’s throw away from Mnandi.
Makena said he was not aware of “the so-called syndicate” and could not comment on the number of motorbikes stolen in the past year.
Bester said he had moved his remaining motorbikes to a safe place and would tell no one where that was.
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