Stolen building supplies, tools recovered
A HUGE haul of stolen building supplies was recovered by Wanaka police yesterday, and more are still to be found.
Sergeant Miriam Reddington, of Wanaka, said police executed a search warrant at a Wanaka building site yesterday and recovered a ‘‘substantial amount’’ of timber, scaffolding and a large amount of other building material and builders’ tools.
A 22yearold Wanaka man was arrested and charged with four counts of burglary and will appear in the Queenstown District Court on Monday.
‘‘These burglaries were committed over the last three months where several thousand dollars’ worth of building supplies and equipment was stolen,’’ Sgt Reddington said.
Sgt Reddington told the Otago Daily Times more charges were ‘‘highly anticipated’’.
‘‘This has probably come to our attention in the last month or so, but there have been a lot of similar burglaries since the start of the year.’’
A similar method had been used in all the burglaries, which were isolated to Queenstown and Wanaka, she said.
‘‘Once you pull a thread everything starts to unravel.’’
Sgt Reddington said other property recently recovered included a container filled with builders’ equipment and machinery; a Hyundai digger and two trailers; drop saws; generators; nail guns; power tools; and wooden boxing.
The seized items would be held at the Wanaka police station and police wished to hear from tradespeople and building retailers who might have lost equipment over the past few months.