A determined cyclist turned detective to track down his stolen GBP 5,000 e-bike after police in Germany bungled their official investigation.

The 42-year-old victim first reported his pedelec bike missing on 4th September after it was taken from his caravan in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

But when police did nothing, he began tracking the bike on a mobile phone app and found the signal coming from a foreign-registered truck heading for the border.

As he called the police while he was following the truck, officers eventually caught up and halted the vehicle at a truck rest stop, according to police.

But after searching it and finding nothing, the police were about to let the trucker go.

Then the cyclist activated his bike’s emergency alarm and it went off in a secret compartment under the truck.

This time, reported local media, red-faced police found not only the missing e-bike, worth around EUR 6,000 (GBP 5,145) but also eight more and arrested two men.

Police spokeswoman Elisabeth Uhlmann admitted in a statement obtained by Newsflash from Rhein-Sieg-Kreis Police: “The men, a 43-year-old and his 24-year-old son, were put into custody but released later on.”

The names and nationalities of the pair, who are now facing theft charges, were not revealed due to Germany’s strict privacy laws.

Police are now trying to find the owners of the other stolen bicycles.

Police spokeswoman Uhlmann said: “We assume that the plan was to get the bicycles out of Germany.”

The investigation continues.