Record haul of stolen property
An unprecedented haul of stolen Wellington loot, including 285 bikes, 950 power tools and 46 heat pumps, has given police a unique problem of having to reunite it with the rightful owners.
‘‘Our number one priority now is to work with victims and return their property to them,’’ said Wellington District criminal investigations manager Detective Inspector John van den Heuvel.
‘‘The sheer volume of items has taken a long time for staff to catalogue, process as evidence and prepare for the community to reclaim their property.’’
The goods – more than 3000 items altogether – were gathered by police in October during Operation Trump Card in which 15 properties and storage units were raided by police.
Police had never encountered a stolen goods ring of this scale, van den Heuvel said.
An incomplete list included 285 bikes, 950 power tools, 10 generators, eight concrete cutters, 10 gas heaters, 695 new and packaged taps and mixers, 46 heat pumps, 33 laptops, eight computers, 132 household appliances and whiteware, and 27 e-scooters.
‘‘We have identified the property as having been stolen from as far away as Kāpiti Coast and the Wairarapa, dating back as far as two years,’’ van den Heuvel said.
It took thieves less than four minutes to steal Tamar Louisson’s bike but, despite there being every chance police now have it, she said it could be months before she gets it back.
Louisson said Wellington police told her that they had a backlog of 3000 recovered stolen goods and it would be three or four months before they could sort through them all to reunite them with the owners.
‘‘It is great [they found them] but now they are just sitting on it,’’ she said.
It was mid-July when she locked her $5500 ebike outside Unity Books on Willis St.
The time between her last checking on her bike, then looking out the window to see it was stolen was no more than four minutes.
She went straight to the police station and filed a report.
Then, on October 5, she read in The Dominion Post about police Operation Trump Card.
Police said they had already matched some items with victims but encouraged anyone who had not reported stolen property to contact police.
It was earlier reported that two men and a woman had been arrested and charged in relation to the thefts.
Further arrests and charges were likely, police said.