Electric Bike Crime Gangs Take Over London

E-Bike Crime Gangs Take Over London looks at the current anti social side of illegal ebikes in London and the U.S. and explores what measure are being taken to reduce theft and the use of these EV crime scene getaway rides

cracking down on illegally adapted ebikes enabling phone thieves to make quick getaways illegal ebikes and Es scooters are being seized by city of London Police in an attempt to crack down on phone snatchers officers say gangs are using them to make a swift getaway because the modified bikes can reach speeds of up to 45 [Applause] milph gangs of London zooming around on their illegal ebikes with souped up motors nicking from people as they innocently walk down the street and don’t get me wrong although police have confiscated thousands of these illegal ebikes since the year begun experts say this problem is only going to get worse this is how quickly a phone snatcher can strike targeting londoners who often don’t even see them coming [Music] if you’re riding around on an electric bike in London that does not comply with the eapc rules this will be classed as a motorcycle or moped and needs to be registered taxed and the driver must have a license if not it could end up in the police impound or even worse crushed [Music] and it’s not just phone snatchers here using illegal EIT [Music] in they’re also stopping delivery drivers for using illegal ebikes delivery drivers are using them because they haven’t got to pay for insurance and licenses and tests to ride them open and when they can go out and buy a fairly cheap bicycle and then go and buy a kit for £ 3400 uh get it fixed onto the bicycle and as you’ve just seen they’ll go plus 30 mph plus which means every Londoner walking down the street now has to be alert for the sounds of an ebike silently creeping up behind them a CCTV company has clips of a double phone theft to show londoners how quickly mobiles can be snatched in the capital high-end theft has become so common in the capital of the Metropolitan Police and has had to set up a dedicated unit earlier in the week we told you there has been a 65% increase in the number of watch thefts in the capital with thieves turning to ever more violent means men who violently stole a 100,000 pound watch in Chelsea have now been convicted but the victims we have spoken to as part of our investigation say while they support the work that is being done they still don’t feel safe from thieves terrorizing London streets and although purses and iPhones and even expensive watches have been a thief’s favorite for many years stealing them has got even easier as they can now ride these illegal ebikes wherever they want with no fear often gangs of um cyclists that will come in and snatch phones they even have adapted sticky gloves to be grab the phones easily lawlessness has been allowed to rain down on our streets we’re talking about everything from running red lights riding too fast riding the wrong way down the street or Worse on the pavement with pedestrian a phone snatch on the street despite three passes by trying to stop the robbery the thieves get away on bikes it’s important to consider the broader context if an ebike exceeds speeds of 152 mph it falls into a category of a moped or motorcycle [Music] and if these things don’t have number plates London’s 2000 AM cameras are completely useless the criminals no police car is not going to follow them against traffic in a oneway street or through an alley criminals are after one thing we all possess our smartphones [Music] and this thing’s got your whole life in it like your bank account all your passwords contact especially when you’re also wearing noise cancelling over the ear headphones it’s like being in your own little bubble police stats show that 260 electric powered bicycles with SE spot officers in 2023 that’s double what it was in 2022 so the way to get these things off the street and to confiscate them is if you can’t beat them join them no one takes a spoon to a sword fight right it will come down to good oldfashioned police work and the new toys and one of the toys is a Saron [Music] police have started to use these supertoys in the UK in the future police officers in Britain could be armed with Ghostbuster style devices but fire electromagnetic Rays to shut down the engines of ebikes being used in a crime [Music] [Music] and it’s not just here in London or the UK that’s having these problems America are seeing their fair share of problems with these ebikes as well the NYPD has set up checkpoints on Bridges and tunnels in an effort to crack down on illegal scooters mopeds and ATVs tonight CBS 2 investigative reporter Masa Sidi looks into the spike and scooter crimes shocking video shows victims being dragged as your phones are snatched the NYPD says this alleged gang now busted is one of many with thieves getting away with luxury goods with no chance of the police trying to catch them the method of Flight by mopz and scooters is up significantly two years ago there were no robberies involving mopeds and scooters [Music] it seems that globally people are struggling with these ebikes the neighbors tell us they’re being terrorized by those team it used to be mopeds that was giving us all the problems but now we’ve got these new bikes are much easier to obtain than the old bikes [Music] I think we’re fighting a bit of a losing battle on this I think whatever laws and fines you put into place criminals are still going to use them it’ll just be the common folk that don’t get to enjoy these little items the criminals who are already breaking the law are going to use these to get away from the crime as quickly as possible and police are going to be forever chasing them thanks for watching if you like video please like subscribe and share