Images, videos and stories shared of crimes taking place around Townsville

Locals have continued to share images, videos and stories of crimes being committed around Townsville on Thursday.

TOWNSVILLE’S crime problems aren’t letting up, with more residents coming forward to share images and stories of law-breaking around the city on Thursday.

At 9pm on Wednesday night, police were contacted about a suspected ram raid at a business on Pilkington St, Garbutt.

Images were sent to the Townsville Bulletin showing the crashed vehicle and a damaged metal fence.

A police spokeswoman said an unknown male driver was travelling along Pilkington Street when he lost control and crashed into a gate.

“He then left in another vehicle. No one has been arrested in relation to this offence,” the spokeswoman said.

A Townsville resident reported a break in at a Castle Hill apartment complex on Thursday morning, claiming that a Green FJ cruiser was used as a battering ram to open a sliding gate to gain entry before breaking into multiple apartments.

Police said a FJ Cruiser was stolen from Wills Street overnight, but had no information about it being used as a battering ram to enter an apartment complex.

A burglary was reported at a North Ward unit in Carter St where an intruder entered through an unlocked door to steal someone’s wallet at 7.25am.

Stolen vehicles run riot around Townsville on Wednesday

RECKLESS car thieves running riot on Townsville’s streets were captured in photos and videos by concerned residents on Wednesday.

At 2.30am, rocks were reportedly thrown at vehicles on Ross River Rd, near the Healthlink Family Medical Centre, before two residents were chased by two stolen cars – a white Toyota RAV4 and a white Toyota HiLux – through Kirwan and Cranbrook.

Later that morning, residents reported seeing four stolen vehicles “hooning and driving incredibly dangerously” around town – a RAV4, Suburu, Skoda wagon and a HiLux.

The HiLux was believed to have been stolen from Douglas, Skoda from Mooney St, Gulliver and the RAV4 from Cranbrook.

The stolen HiLux was dumped on Oxford St, Hyde Park next to QML, and the Skoda reportedly blew a tyre in Marks St, Hermit Park where it was dumped.

Additionally, footage was shared of vehicles doing doughnuts near the Avenues Tavern.

A Heatley resident also shared video footage of shirtless, masked, and gloved juvenile car thieves meeting up in front of her house.

One gave her the middle fingers when he realised he was being filmed.

Just after 2.30pm, there were reports of a white Camry that was “all over the road” and “driving on the wrong side of the road” near James Cook University.

Not long after that, police reported having a male in custody.

Queensland Police acting-Superintendent Brad Inskip said they were aware of the recent dangerous criminal behaviour by a small group of offenders around Townsville and had been concentrating their efforts to find and arrest those responsible.

“Tomorrow we are launching Operation Uniform Nano to continue to target recent serious offending of burglary and car theft,” Acting-Superintendent Inskip said.

“This anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated by police or the public and we thank the Townsville community for their ongoing support and to those who provided information.”

He said police arrested a 15-year-old Kirwan girl overnight and charged her with three counts of attempted enter dwelling with intent, five counts of stealing, two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle and one count of possessing implements used for house break-ins.

“She is due to appear in Townsville Childrens Court on January 21,” he said.

“At 2.30pm today a male was driving erratically in the vicinity of Angus Smith Drive, Douglas.

“Police intercepted him when he bogged the vehicle he was driving and he was arrested and taken into custody.”

When asked about the deteriorating crime situation, Townsville MP Scott Stewart said Queensland had the strongest youth crime laws in Australia but there needed to be a “raft of strategies and continuous work” to address the problem.

From what he had been told, there were currently 100 more young people behind bars than this time last year.

“So those changes are certainly working, but we’ll continue to do the work that’s needed to make sure we address not only the crime itself, but what are the causes of crime to break that cycle of crime as well,’ Mr Stewart said.

When crime was committed, he said it was also important that we had every resource available including additional police.

“There are more police in Townsville right now than there has ever been, so resources are certainly there,” he said.

Weapons recovered on Monday after being stolen from cop’s gun safe

THE community can sleep easier knowing that three stolen firearms are no longer on the streets of Townsville.

A police officer posted on social media warning locals that his house was broken into on Saturday night.

“Managed to get into my gun safe and steal three firearms. These little s---s are now armed, albeit without ammo,” the officer said.

Guns were stolen from a police officer’s gun safe in his home.

Addressing the theft on Monday morning, a Queensland Police spokeswoman said investigations were continuing after a Hermit Park house was broken into on Saturday night.

“It is understood unknown offenders have forced open a window, while the occupants were away, extensively searching the property before leaving on foot,” she said.

“The resident returned to find firearms had been stolen from a locked gun safe.”

In a post on social media on Monday afternoon, the officer confirmed that the guns had been recovered from “kiddie crims”.

“Police have got my guns so we can all breathe a little easier,” he said.

The police spokeswoman confirmed that the weapons were recovered from an address in Hermit Park.

Originally published as Images, videos and stories shared of crimes taking place around Townsville