Countries cooperate to return stolen bike

PALMER, Alaska, June 15 (UPI) -- An Alaska man's family said he was reunited with his stolen bicycle in Italy when police recovered it during a drug bust and looked him up on Facebook.

David Salmon of Palmer, Alaska, said his son, Erik, 21, was biking across Europe with some friends when his bicycle, panniers and clothes were stolen Wednesday from outside of a Pisa, Italy, cafe, the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News reported Friday.

Salmon said police in Tuscany busted a suspected drug house Thursday and recovered items including the Kona Sutra touring bike, which bore Erik's name and contained his passport. Police used Facebook to track down Erik Salmon's hometown and Palmer Public Safety Officers -- who said they had never fielded a call from Italian police before -- were able to give them the number of Salmon's family.

Davis Salmon said he put the police in contact with his son, who was then able to retrieve his stolen belongings from the police station.

"Whatever minutes and miles there are between us world citizens is now compressed to milliseconds and millimeters," David Salmon said.