Kurdistan
From left: the moment the motorcycle was stolen, and after it was found by owner. Credit: Erbil police/Noraly Schoenmaker
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Dutch YouTuber with over two million subscribers, travelling around the world on her motorcycle, had her motor vehicle stolen in Erbil in mid-November but found it a few hours later with the help of locals and a tracking device installed on her bike. The police announced his arrest on Thursday.
“This day did not go according to plan. After breakfast, I walked down and saw that only my motorcycle cover remained and my motorcycle was gone. Stolen. This was not how I thought this day in Erbil, Iraq, would go,” wrote Noraly Schoenmaker in the description of her vlog she published on Wednesday.
Schoenmaker’s vlog shows that she noticed her motorcycle was gone. She asked the hotel staff to call the police. After waiting for a while, she decided to go find her bike herself using AirTags, GPS trackers, that showed the stolen bike within walking distance of the hotel.
A person who she said did not work at the hotel and may have been a guest himself, accompanied her to the location.
The motorcycle she calls “Frankie” was found left there. The suspects had cut off the wiring loom including the wire for the electric starter in an apparent attempt to start the bike.
CCTV footage from the hotel shows two suspects taking the motorcycle from the parking lot.
"The suspects tried to steal the motorcycle, but because it had a GPS and other features, they could not ride it and left it, then police were alerted and went to the YouTuber and handed over the motorcycle," Karzan Salih, spokesperson for Erbil police told Rudaw.
However, her vlog shows her finding the bike herself with the help of locals.
The police posted a video on their official Facebook page showing the moment the suspects left the motorcycle and one of them in handcuffs at the police station.
The YouTuber has not filed any lawsuits, according to the police.
Schoenmaker, known to her viewers as “Itchy Boots” on YouTube, has over two million subscribers, vlogging her travels across the world on her motorcycle.
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