Please attribute to Detective Senior Sergeant Tim Leitch, Wellington CIB
Police have made significant progress with Operation Trump Card, an operation working to recover stolen property across the Wellington area.
The operation, which began early last year, saw Police disrupt a major theft and burglary ring in Wellington when it terminated in October.
To date 12 people have been charged and are before the courts on burglary, receiving and theft charges. Further arrests are likely.
Police have seized over 5,000 individual items of property believed to have been stolen, including a large number of bikes, tools, hardware and appliances.
A team of officers have been working through the seized items to reconcile them with property reported stolen across Wellington over the past three years.
This has been a significant undertaking and good progress is being made. So far 93 of the 298 bikes, 10 of 29 e-scooters and 11 of 49 laptops have been identified and will be returned to owners or insurance companies.
We continue to work through the seized items in order to return as many as possible to the rightful owners.
The process is taking time due to the sheer number of items seized and the need to clearly identify property before it can be returned.
We have found that in many cases only limited property details were provided at the time of the initial reporting.
We ask the owners of stolen property, particularly if it is unique or has an identifiable feature, marking, or a known serial number to contact Police and provide this additional information.
A large number of distinctive bikes, tools, builders’ equipment and other items are still to be identified.
Anyone that has property stolen that has not reported the theft, is encouraged to do so, and provide a description of their item.
Reports and updates regarding identifying features can be made by filling out a 105 report online quoting Operation Trump Card.
Police will contact individuals with the next steps once property can be matched up with their rightful owners.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
