back to article Biker gang plunders Covent Garden Apple Store

Grieving Apple Store staff arrived to work this morning to find their Covent Garden shop had been plundered overnight by a biker gang. Two men are being questioned by coppers after the "smash and grab" raid at 1am today, just days after the death of billionaire Apple baron Steve Jobs. Coppers were alerted after a gang of …

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  1. Wupspups

    Biker gang?

    Hardly a biker gang with 16 to 21 year olds on mopeds and motorcycles. More like Byker Grove with mopeds than Hell's Angels on Hogs.

    1. The BigYin
      FAIL

      Indeed

      I was expecting to here tell of a raid by the H.A., Satan's Slaves, Banditos, Outlaws or some other back-patch crew. Y'know, 1950/60's anarchist, mayhem style-ee.

      A moped and two scrotes does not a "biker gang" make.

      1. durandal

        Yeah but

        this is a 'gang', who happen to be on bikes. (Albeit of the 50-125cc) variety.

        With respect to the leather-clad-and-harley-riding lawyers and accountants, there's a big issue with the islington gangs who've worked out that scoots n' tings are nippy, nickable and disposable, and ideal for this kind of shenanigan.

        (Given that my commute to Covent Garden takes as long on the 1L bike as it does on the 90cc, I think they've got a point...)

        1. The BigYin

          If they are on scoots...

          ...then they're Mods, not Rockers. :)

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Yes, a biker gang

        Talk about a mass sense of humour failure today. The headline is clearly meant to be a bit of a joke, like many, many other Register headlines before it.

        I for one find the description of a group of delinquent spotty youths riding around on mopeds and 125cc bikes as a 'biker gang' to be pretty amusing, and literally it's also true.

        As for the one or two people claiming to be offended as they are themselves real 'bikers' ... who knew bikers were such a touchy bunch of cry babies?

        1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

          Doesn't read like a joke to me. Reads like the usual media crap that anybody riding a PTW is a "biker". The funny thing is that once upon a time most bikes were ridden by what most people would recognise as bikers (scooters being another matter altogether) these days bikers are in the minority. Most large capacity (say more then half a litre) bikes are ridden by middle aged blokes with a serious mid life crisis. These can be recognised by a colourful paint scheme with leathers to match. Bikers, of course, do tend to wear a leather jacket which matches the paint scheme of their bikes, but only because both happen to be black. And as for their legwear department, I recall Levis introducing black 501s in the eighties. I was puzzled, my 501s had been black for years. Still are.

          1. The BigYin

            I am not a biker

            I am nowhere near righteous enough.

            I'm a motorcyclist.

    2. ledmil
      FAIL

      Re: Biker gang

      I was also expecting a tale of Hells Angels or similar. Unfortunately we seem to have some ex Daily Wail personnel writing headlines.

  2. Matt Hamilton

    Biker gang? A bunch of 16 year old chavs on scooters is hardly Sons of Anarchy!

  3. jeffo

    Mopeds?

    It hardly sounds like my idea of a biker gang...

  4. Swiss
    Facepalm

    OMG - Biker Gang score fruit in smash n grab job

    "Coppers were alerted after a gang of around seven "moped" riders and motorcyclists, most carrying pillion passengers..."

    Hardly the usual profile for a "Biker Gang" mopeds....

    But hey maybe im being too picky, they were after all riding two wheeled vehicles and there were more than three of em.

    Almost like the old days when anyone wearing a leather and riding a motor bike was a Hells Angel...

    <sigh>

  5. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Shouldn't that be ...

    > after the "smash and grab" raid

    smash and fondle?

  6. Lloyd
    FAIL

    Grieving Apple Store staff??????

    Had all their parents died or something?

    1. Sir Runcible Spoon

      Sir

      Sorry, I thought you said

      "Had all their patents died or something?"

      My bad.

      It would also be nice to see Mr Plod equally diligent when pursuing burglars of domestic properties as well, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

  7. Conrad Longmore
    Facepalm

    There's a guy camped outside

    There's a guy camped outside the Covent Garden store waiting for his iPhone, some pics of the aftermath here:

    http://robshoesmith.blogspot.com/2011/10/day-7-apple-store-has-been-robbed-in.html

    1. MJI Silver badge
      Joke

      I liked the tosser comment

      And I agree with it

    2. The Fuzzy Wotnot
      Pint

      Thing that got me is that he's camped there outside the bloody door, it's all stonework in that area, a load of bikes come hairing through at 1am in the morning and he didn't realise until after they'd started packing the kit on the bikes and were driving off!

      I know some people sleep like logs but bloody hell, how dead to the world was he?!

  8. Chris Harden
    Holmes

    Coffee Moment

    EC1? That's the city....

    So what your saying, is that this bike gang is a bunch of banker toffs on mopeds nicking iPads? hehehehe, good times :D

    1. Dan Dodex
      Facepalm

      Lots of council estates in EC1

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      EC! ==Clerkenwell, close to 'silicon roundabout'

  9. David Evans

    "Two men are being questioned by coppers after the "smash and grab" raid at 1am today, just days after the death of billionaire Apple baron Steve Jobs."

    Sorry, I fail to see the connection.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @David Evans

      Apparently Steve Jobs used to work at Apple. That would be the connection.

      1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
        Boffin

        @Lee

        so what are you saying Lee, that the death of Steve Jobs caused the smash and grab^H^H^H^Hfondle raid. Nope, I'm with David Evans, I don't see how Job's demise is a factor in the story.

        May as well have said that "Two men are being questioned by coppers after the "smash and grab" raid at 1am today, just hours after the Liberian registered container ship Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe reef in the Bay of Plenty".

  10. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Biker gang?

    I had visions of decent custom choppers and at least leathers.

    But Mopedists? With Hoodies no doubt.

    Little bit Daily Mail here, I feel.

    1. MJI Silver badge

      Stinkwheels as they are know

      Small and annoying ones, got more rude names for smallish bikes and scooters.

      But the Honda C50/70/90 range is OK with Bikers.

      1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

        Speaking as a biker I have to say that virtually any powered two wheeler is OK. I even have a little scooter myself, it's great for urban work and is much easier on the environment than any Tesla.

        It's the people who ride who can be a problem. The ones getting real bikers a bad name tend to be middle aged sunday and wednesday night riders who usually have a BMW 3 series in the garage along with their race can equipped superbike and hoon about everywhere at full throttle. These are the idiots who annoy everybody by riding dangerously and noisilly everywhere they go and also make up most of the accident statistics by wrapping their P&J round a tree when they exceed the limits of both safety and their ability.

        Direct Access is a curse. It allows these idiots to go from driving an average car to riding a high performance bike in a matter of days. They hit their mid-life crisis and decide a bike is just the thing to prove how manly they are. If they had to work their way up the way the rest of us did they would either have a mature attitude to riding or, more likely, not have bothered to take up biking in the first place. Bear in mind that most of these idiots only ride bike because they can't afford a Zonda. Oddly enough Clarkson is right about that particular type of motorcyclist, but he'd know wouldn't he? Him and his Ducati would know.

        1. Graham Marsden
          WTF?

          @Grease Monkey

          Speaking also as a "middle-aged biker" and one who only passed his Direct Access four years ago, I'd just like to say: Nonsense!

          It's not the "middle aged" ones I see trying to get their knee down on the A272, nor are they the ones carving across lanes of traffic on the motorway or doing stupid overtakes on blind bends and crossing double white lines or treating the chevron-ed dividing gap between two-way traffic as a "bikers only" lane which they can blast along at stupid speeds blithely trusting that no cager is going to obstruct their path...

          1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

            And how can you tell what age they are? It's pretty simple. Get your arse over to the old bike haunts like the Ace or Squires, or some biking event and wait for the blokes on the expensive top end sport bikes and to take their lids off and you'll notice something. All at least forty, and why would that be? Because they are the only people who can afford the bike, the insurance, the matching leathers, the race can and the other stupid matching carbon fibre look accessories. Or rather can afford it AND actually want it. The young 'uns can't afford it and the people who have paid their dues grew out of that years ago.

            1. Graham Marsden

              @Grease Monkey

              Bike haunts? What, you mean like Loomies at the Junction of the A272 and the A32?

              Try standing outside there and watch who gets on their bike and then thrashes off down one of those roads like a complete idiot.

  11. Silverburn
    Flame

    Methinks playing on the "the boss just died" sympathy card is missing on the crims.

    They're so dumb and shallow they probably only care that it's the "shiny shiny"; they wouldn't have known who Steve Jobs was, even if he introduced himself.

    I wouldn't get so pissed off about thieves if I knew:

    a) they actually get caught once in a while

    b) they lost a finger every time, triad style. Rather than a commuty sentence they won't turn up to anyway

    1. brimful

      Or a hand

      Middle eastern style.

  12. JaitcH
    FAIL

    No warranty support, I guess

    If they hoisted any cell phones they will have to get them jail broken and the IMEI /MIN reprogrammed and since they are likely Lemon 4's rather than 4S the cost will take a chunk ut of the small price they will get for a hot phone. Could it be they thought Iphone 4S had een released?

    If the computers have trace software, and the thieves are smart, a hard drive switch will fix that.

    Just shows how far people will go for a little electronic bling.

    1. Ommerson
      Stop

      You assume that crime is rational or even well paid. It's most likely neither.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Yeah right

    Any self respecting biker gang would be setting fire to mopeds, not letting them join.

  14. Andus McCoatover

    Easy, isn't it?

    Hopefully, they were display models, not boxed.

    All the plods have to do is wait till some spotty youth rides his bike up to buy a charger for the thing.

    Some folks are so fuc*king stupid, they'll be back in a day or two.

  15. Syd

    How Inconsiderate!

    They could at least have held-off the raid until a suitable mourning period had elapsed - I'd suggest perhaps one-to-two weeks might have been more appropriate.

  16. Winkypop Silver badge
    Facepalm

    The great train robbery it aint

    Mopeds!

  17. barstewardsquad
    FAIL

    "Islington plod chased one moped believed to be involved in the burglary but the rider managed to give them the slip."

    Now that made me laugh. Made me think of Rosco P. Coltrane in hot pursuit.

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Facepalm

      Quite common actually.

      A moped is quite a bit faster than a plod on foot, which is the only thing they have that can follow it down a footpath.

      In a "catch me if you can" contest between the plod and a moped rider who knows the area, my money's on the moped every time.

      All bets off if they get a chopper up in time.......

      1. LuMan
        Joke

        @TeeCee

        "All bets off if they get a chopper up in time......."

        A chopper? Now THAT would make it a bike gang!

        1. Sir Runcible Spoon

          Sir

          Obligatory Die Hard Quote Alert!

          "Who's motorcycle is it?

          It's not a motorcycle baby, it's a chopper.

          Who's chopper is it?

          Zed's.

          Who's Zed?

          Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead."

          1. ratfox
            Headmaster

            Right actor, wrong movie...

            Pulp Fiction

          2. Sir Runcible Spoon

            Sir

            Shit shit shit shit shit..quick, post before anyone else notices...

            It was of course, Pulp Fiction...not Die Hard.

            But it WAS Bruce Willis at least :D

          3. Pat M

            It's not a die hard quote- it's from pulp fiction!

          4. Figgus

            Quote

            I'm still waiting for a Die Hard quote. That one was Pulp Fiction. Right guy, wrong movie.

            1. LuMan
              Go

              @Figgus 14:58

              "Yippee-kay-ay, Motherfucker!"

              There you go |;o)

          5. Swiss

            In reply to Sir Runcible Spoon.... S P O O O N !

            Right bloke wrong film...

            Pulp Fiction... baby ;-)

      2. Grease Monkey Silver badge

        @TeeCee I like an innuendo as much as the next infantile commentard, but really how would that help them catch a moped?

  18. Just Thinking

    morons on mopeds

    Criminals, but not particularly morons. I expect iStuff is easier to shift than jewellery, with a better return.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Paul Kunert

    Please try to be a bit more professional in your journalistic writings.

    You do yourself no favours in resorting to silly names for products.

    Grow Up.

    1. James Hughes 1

      @Aimee

      You are aware this is the Register, aren't you?

    2. Blip
      Mushroom

      If you don't like the style of journalism here, fuck off and find somewhere that doesn't offend your twee sensibilities.

      1. mccp
        Thumb Down

        @ Blip

        I agree with all the other replies to Aimee's post, but I don't see why you feel it's necessary to tell Aimee to fuck off.

        Is that how you normally respond to anyone who expresses a view you don't agree with? To their face?

    3. gerryg
      Big Brother

      It's the house style

      It's not your first visit to the site. It's not compulsory reading.

    4. nsld
      Paris Hilton

      Not wanting to point out the blindingly obvious

      But iPads and other jobsian wizadry have been knows as fondleslabs since the first iPhone way back in the dawn of time when St Steve came forth and invented the smartphone (probably).

      If you want deferrential journalism the Reg is not going to float your iBoat.

      Paris, nuff said .....

    5. Shades
      FAIL

      Aimee

      Please try to be a bit less humourless when reading El Reg.

      You do yourself no favours in moaning about commonly accepted names for Apple products.

      Chill Out.

    6. jonathanb Silver badge
      Devil

      Please ignore Aimee

      I come here for some light hearted relief from the drudgery of work, and this is exactly the writing style I like to see. If I want boring sensible stuff, I go elsewhere.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Am I the only person who saw Islington Plod and immediately thought iPlod?

  21. HP Cynic

    Not a biker gang then, just a typical bunch of yobs who use mopeds and motorcycles because they can take them on pavements, down alleys and generally escape pursuit.

    I'm not a biker but I'm annoyed by the implication.

  22. CmdrX3
    Big Brother

    I'm surpised they didn't break into the local Starbucks afterwards to enjoy their loot with a "nice" coffee.

  23. TheOtherJola
    WTF?

    "Biker gang"?

    Whenever the media use "Biker gang" they usually refer to Hells Angels type of people. People with proper bikes and proper beards.

    It sounds like these crims could manage neither.

    Please change your headline - it is disparaging towards us bikers!

  24. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
    Facepalm

    iPlod equivalence...

    Biker gang = two hoodies on mopeds

    "Biker gang" looks better in the press release

    1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
      Big Brother

      Oh look, a plod spin-doctor dosen't like my post.

  25. Studley
    Joke

    "...and other similar devices"

    Did they make off with a carton of Galaxy Tabs too, then?

  26. Cliff

    Scrumping

    Brilliant.

  27. LeBeourfCurtaine
    Devil

    Hot pursuit

    There's a suspicion in some parts that the remaining miscreants out on the lamb will be hunted down by a pack of Hell Hounds, courtesy of a recently deceased Captain of Industry...

  28. Dana W
    Meh

    Bikers.

    In the US they actually have serious moped gangs. http://www.mopedarmy.com/branches/ that are more reminiscent of actual old school bikers than the "fake bikers" these days, as the only people who can AFFORD to get up on a Harley anymore are lawyers and dentists and such, nothing funnier than a dentist in $3000 worth of official licensed Harley gear on a $20,000 bike with $5000 worth of bolt on accessories trying to play 1 percenter.

    Then again, ours tend to be 20 somethings with a lot of tattoos mostly into hotrodding and customizing their rides, they tend to drink and party. Generally emplyed, and not generally teenage thugs though. IN the US its very easy and cheap to own a car, and our equivalent of chavs will ALWAYS go for a car first. Mopeds are for college students and weirdos. "I want to point out I run a 1979 Motobecane 50v so I count as a weirdo"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      That cool aid is bad for you

      A real biker gang banger would kill for and steal a real motorcycle.

      I grew up in the area where the Hell's Angels originated.

      Only pussies ride mopeds, female or otherwise. Mopeds are for pure idiots.

      - Real biker of over 40 years with no gang affiliation

      1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

        Why do so many people on here associate "biker" with "Harley"?

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mopeds?

    I think you mean hipster scooters, Apple even has stylish ramraiders!

    1. Dana W
      FAIL

      No. Mopeds.

      The moped people won't TOUCH a scooter, they call them toilets. Even the Hipster ones.

      I"m not a Hipster, too old, too fat, and it isn't officially ironic if I was doing it the FIRST Time it was trendy. Besides, I don't smoke and I hate beer.

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That bloke outside the Covent Garden store's gonna be there a damn sight longer than he thought if he's still waiting for the iPhone 5!

  31. Rich 30

    bored..

    bored of "Jesus slab" etc

    1. Steven Roper

      Aren't you

      supposed to be camping out the front of an Apple store or something?

  32. Morphius
    Coat

    Really?

    These two were not members of a bike gang, they were just a couple of bad apples!

  33. Jimbo 6
    Terminator

    "officers saw two suspects inside a block of flats"

    ROTM.

    That's all.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Good luck

    Good luck shifting the goods, it the store is managed worth it's salt, every serial number of the stolen goods will be flagged. No registration, no support, no service = shiny bricks!

    That is IF Apple is competent, and as much as I hate them, I think they probably do have it together in this kind of situation.

    Good luck with all the stuff, assholes.

    1. Grease Monkey Silver badge

      You're really not up with the criminal mind are you. Most of the stuff like this that gets stolen will either go for one item per wrap, or it will be used will be sold down the pub or similar. Nobody sensible would buy an iPad off a bloke in a pub.* There would still be plenty of takers and when the goods turn out to be stolen the vendor will have skipped. Likewise if the goods go through a drug dealer they will be sold in an even less traceable way.

      * It's tempting to drop the last six words from that sentence.

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