Police investigating the discovery of thousands of dollars worth of stolen property at a Dairy Flat address are making steady progress in identifying who the goods belong to.
Around sixty percent of the items have been identified and traced back to their owners, including all of the motorbikes/trail bikes and quad bikes and the majority of the kitchen appliances, which were stolen from homes under construction in the Rodney area.
Police have received numerous phone calls from across the country from people who have had things stolen. Police now believe that the goods are most likely to have been stolen over the past 18 months predominantly from the Rodney and Albany area.
A contact phone number and email address has been established for the Operation, which has been called Operation Tank.
Members of the public can call 09 424 6509 or email optank@police.govt.nz
The owners of several trailers, a concrete mixer and a large number of power tools still need to be identified, as well as a diesel tanker on a trailer.
“We’ve reunited a number of people with their belongings and doing this has been a really enjoyable part of our job. It’s so upsetting to have anything stolen so being able to give the items back to good honest owners has been awesome” says Snr Sgt Andy King, Rodney Police.
The Operation Tank number is now up and running.
"Anyone who calls us is asked to have the details of serial numbers or distinctive markings ready to provide us when they ring. We expect to receive a flood of calls but we must warn people that it's a very hard task to be able to reunite people with their property without serial numbers, photos or distinctive markings. For example we've got a number of nailguns, and without any identifying factors it will be very hard to prove which nailgun belongs to who" says Snr Sgt King.
The investigation into who is responsible for stealing the items is ongoing and Police are following positive lines of enquiry.
ENDS
Beth Bates/Waitemata Police