Wairarapa Police uncover haul of stolen property

Wellington, 15 August 2014 - The Wairarapa Police Tactical Crime Unit has been targeting a spate of local residential house and shed burglaries in Masterton and a search of a Dixon Street property on Wednesday 13 August has revealed a significant amount of what Police believe is stolen property.

At the address were flat screen TVs, wine, CDs, DVDs, bicycles, punching bags, camping equipment, tools, fishing gear, scooters, clothing and bedding which Police are looking to reunite with their owners.

Enquiries into the items recovered are continuing and Police believe the items have been linked to five burglaries from properties and three to theft from motor vehicles. Further enquiries into the offenders are underway and, at this stage, it is believed the offenders are from Auckland and had moved to the Wairarapa but have since fled to Auckland before Police could speak with them. Steps are underway to locate them.

Detective Sergeant Bysouth says "Due to the recent spate of Masterton burglaries and vehicle crime, the Tactical Crime Unit has been proactive in targeting both known offenders and hot locations in order to reduce crime and prevent further offending."

"This task becomes more complicated for our investigation team when burglary and vehicle offenders move into Masterton from out of the area and we don’t know that they are here. It is for this reason we not only target recidivist offenders but also target areas where the spikes are occurring."

"In July, the Tactical Crime Unit re-located themselves to Featherston for a month to assist local staff with an increase in offending in the area. This was extremely successful and has encouraged the unit to be mobile around the Wairarapa area allowing us to respond, not just for the odd day but over a much longer period where we will have more impact on crime. We will continue to review our deployment against crimes trends and react to them using all of the resources we have available to us."

"Burglaries and vehicle crime are not only considered serious by Police but we know they have wider implications on victims who have to deal with strangers having been in their homes and the loss of property which may have taken years to attain”.

ENDS

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