California police find stolen motorcycle 35 years later

Inogenius

Politics Moderator

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Thirty-five years after it was stolen, police in Long Beach, California recovered a motorcycle as it was being shipped to an unsuspecting person in Finland who bought it on online auction eBay, they said.

The year-old Yahama 360 was stolen in 1971 from owner Phillip McKeen off a street in Long Beach, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Los Angeles.

McKeen, now an airline pilot who lives in the northeastern US, called its recovery "incredible".

"It's as if a friend you hadn't seen for 30 years walked back into your life, but hasn't aged a day," he said.

The motorcycle, which remains hardly aged with only 9,380 miles (15,100 kilometers) on the odometer, surfaced for auction on eBay late last year.

Police said a resident of Lahti, Finland, had won the auction with a bid of 1,725 dollars.

The motorcycle was discovered during a routine check of a container on a ship about to leave the United States for Scandinavia, they said.

Police said the seller, from central California, was not involved in the theft.

Earlier this year California police also recovered a Corvette convertible sports car stolen in 1969 from New York as it was being shipped to Sweden from Los Angeles.