During the night of 15 to 16 September 2023, employees of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) noticed a vehicle with a Polish-registered trailer loaded with two water pumps at a petrol station in Basel. The driver was unable to identify himself, whereupon the patrol decided to carry out further checks at the Basel-Freiburgerstrasse border crossing.

When they opened the van there, they saw various bicycles. When they checked the first two e-bikes, it turned out that they were wanted for theft, so the police were called in. There were a total of 24 e-bikes in the van, ten of which were already wanted at the time of the check. In addition, an electric foxtail saw from a construction company was found and neither the driver nor the passenger could produce a receipt for the motorized water pumps. The two men were handed over to the Basel-Stadt cantonal police along with the vehicle and the suspected stolen goods.