AN increasing number of shared bikes in Shenzhen have been sabotaged in recent months, and an ofo bike was recently found spray-painted another color in Luohu District, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    A maintenance technician from the app-based bike company ran into a man who was riding an ofo bike in Luohu District on Wednesday morning, but the bike was repainted from yellow to grey, and its number plate was missing.

    The technician suspected that the man had stolen the bike for private use by changing its color and removing its plate. So the technician stopped the man and called the police right away.

    According to a staff member from ofo, known as Wang, the technician, surnamed Jiang, spotted a man riding a grey ofo bike as he was sorting bikes that were parked at the intersection between Bao’an Road South and Jiefang Road.

    Although the color of the bike had been changed, Jiang could still identify the bike as the latest product launched by the company.

    Wang said that the recently released bike was of higher quality than the previous one, and also cost more, at 2,000 yuan (US$292) a piece. The company has only released 1,000 such bikes in Shenzhen.

    The police from Guiyuan Police Station are investigating the case now, but no official announcement has yet been made.

    The sabotage of app-based bikes is not rare. About 500 app-based bikes were piled up near a Shekou park last Sunday, while some of them had broken parts that were deliberately sabotaged, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported. In Guangzhou, some bikes were thrown into rivers.  (Zhang Qian)