Police say Hamilton home invasion linked to major burglary ring cracked in combined operation

Hamilton Police say the merger of two major investigations came to a successful conclusion yesterday with the arrest of several people and the recovery of a large amount of stolen property.

City Tactical Coordinator, Senior Sergeant Freda Grace, said Operation Golf was a whole of City response to a spate of burglaries in North Hamilton over recent weeks while Operation Nadine targeted the armed offenders responsible for a violent home invasion in Fairfield on 11 May.

"Previously, by placing a concerted effort on a problem area by the university we were able to make a considerable difference with a major burglary problem and we have applied the same solution to the North Hamilton issue, a whole of policing approach.

"Running parallel to this, the Op Nadine inquiry team identified some similarities in their case and as a result several properties across Hamilton were searched yesterday. In addition to the two 23-year-old men and the 19-year-old arrested yesterday morning four other people were arrested that afternoon."

Ms Grace said seven persons have been charged with multiple dishonesty offences with two facing 19 burglary charges and five unlawful taking charges.

"Two males aged 23 and 19-years-old face these charges and others for aggravated robbery and wounding with intent in relation to an alleged home invasion on Casey Ave on 11 May.

"A 30-year-old man and two 23-year-olds involved in the robbery also face dishonesty charges while a 24-year-old woman has been arrested for receiving stolen goods as has another 19-year-old male."

Over $7000 in cash was recovered as well as a considerable amount of jewellery, fishing gear, tools, medical equipment, laptop computers, televisions, electronic docking stations, airguns and other equipment was amongst property recovered alongside a small amount of cannabis.

"This property is going to take several days to catalogue and identify and this is a really good example of the benefits of people having loaded images or serial numbers of their property on Operation SNAP or marking valuables with invisible synthetic DNA.

"Had this been done it would be far easier for our staff to establish ownership of recovered items and would speed up the insurance process for victims. Information on either of these options can be obtained from any Police station and I strongly recommend people invest the time to find out more about it."

Ms Grace said the main offenders identified in these investigations are believed by Police to be significant offenders engaged in a broad spectrum of crime.

"The success of this combined operation should give a great deal of satisfaction to the Hamilton public that their Police take the problem of burglary in our City seriously and will take steps to prevent it.

"To build on this success we need the public to do their part, you can start by recording the details of your valuables and securing your homes but to be really effective Police need people to report suspicious activity when it happens with descriptions of offenders and their vehicles by ringing 111."

Ms Grace said another effective tool was people not able to speak to Police directly phoning Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 and leaving information anonymously.

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