KEY POINTS:
Among residents of the trendy art and design district in Toronto, it was hardly a secret that the bearded man who owned the Bike Clinic on Queen St was a bit of a renegade.
The police had an idea he might be up to no good too.
But
the day they finally raided his shop brought more than a few surprises - 2865 of them in fact.
That is how many bicycles detectives discovered stashed not just in the shop on two floors but in several other garages that its mysterious owner, Igor Kenk, had rented around the city.
What Kenk seems to have been running was a back-of-a-lorry enterprise the scope of which even Del Boy of TV's classic Only Fools and Horses would have had trouble grasping.
Kenk must answer 58 charges of theft and drug possession. Two other people have also been charged.
The police were spurred into action when bicycle thefts surged in June. They put out bait - a bicycle on the street. Kenk and a friend were seen passing by. The friend was later seen slicing the locks of two other bikes.
As Kenk awaits his day in court, the people of Toronto have already given their verdict. Indeed Kenk, who holds a Slovenian passport and has claimed to have worked for the KGB, may be the most hated man in the city.
But what about all those bicycles?
So crammed was the second floor with them that firefighters had to remove the windows and begin lowering bikes to the street with a rope.
Finally, all the models were put inside an old police garage, the doors flung open and people told, "Come and get 'em."
There have been some tearful reunions. But the total reclaimed stands at fewer than 500, so the police are extending public collection until September 5.
Kenk had seemed to some in the neighbourhood to represent a mostly benign throwback to times before its gentrification.
But then came his arrest and the discovery also of cocaine, crack cocaine and 7kg of marijuana. And he was found to live in one of the most expensive parts of the city, and had a highly esteemed concert pianist as his girlfriend, who also now faces charges.
But the big question is this: what in pedalling heaven did he plan to do with so many bikes?
- INDEPENDENT