Cesc Fabregas’ hi-tech £8,500 electric bicycle ‘stolen by crook who posed as Chelsea star’ and is now on the run

A MAN said to have stolen a bicycle belonging to Chelsea footie ace Cesc Fabregas is on the run.

Vlad Grigoruta, 24, is accused of taking the custom-made £8,500 bike from Belgravia, London.

The star, 31, was the proud owner of a Greyp G12S which had been custom-made for him and painted in his Spain team colours.

The bike, which can reach a top speed of 43mph according to the firm’s website, is said to have been stolen. The thief then set up a fake email address - fabregas332@gmail.com -  in Fabregas' name in a bid to trick the manufacturer, court papers allege.

The crook allegedly claimed the bike's finger print scanner wasn't working and asked the company to reset the security code remotely.

But bosses contacted Scotland Yard who later tracked down the stolen bike.

Greyp Bikes's head of sales Dominik Vrbanac wrote about the alleged theft in a blog post on the Croatian company's website.

He said the custom G12S was produced as "a surprise" for the former Barcelona star who has appeared for Spain’s national side 110 times.

"The design team did a marvellous job with the already marvellous bike and Cesc appreciated it," he said.

Mr Vrbanac said the bike had been recovered “in a bad condition” and after fixing it up returned it to Fabregas.

After some email exchanges Mr Vrbanac convinced the person to give him his address, which he did, and the police stepped in.

Scotland Yard said Vlad Grigoruta, 24, has been charged with theft theft of a pedal cycle and two counts of fraud.

Westminster JPs issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear at court.

The Croatian company have also made customised bikes for his former Barcelona team mates Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique.