Police seize 4000 tins baby milk, manuka honey and cash in Sydney raid
A WOMAN believed responsible for a baby formula theft ring has been charged by police following her arrest in Sydney’s northwest.
NSW
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A WOMAN believed responsible for a baby formula theft ring has been charged by police following her arrest in Sydney’s northwest.
Police arrested 48-year-old Lie Ke, along with a 53-year-old man, in a Carlingford carpark at 10pm last night.
The pair were taken to North Ryde Police Station.
Strike Force Dungv Officers seized more than $200,000 cash and 4000 tins of baby formula during an extensive investigation and raid of a further two Carlingford homes.
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Head of NSW Robbery and Serious Crime Squad Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty described the theft ring as an “unusual case”.
“
Police normally investigate these in isolated instances and charge people for shoplifting and sometimes receiving property but in this case police monitored and conducted some covert investigations to lead us to who we will allege is the head of the syndicate,” he said.
Police believe Ms Ke is the group ringleader, and allege a “large number” of people have been working within her criminal network.
“At this stage, it appears to be at least a dozen people that are working in this syndicate and she was directing those people … to obtain the baby formula and redirect it to her so she could then on sell it,” Superintendent Doherty said.
Demand for Australian formula has been so high in China that personal shoppers known as “Daigou” are known to swarm supermarkets and clean out the stock levels to sell online at marked up prices.
Superintendent Doherty alleges there was a “fair profit margin that would’ve been gained through this criminal network”.
Police also located large quantities of vitamins, Manuka honey and other items are believed to be stolen.
It will be alleged Ms Ke had been co-ordinating the retail theft from a business, One Stop Nature in Bankstown, which has been linked to the theft and distribution of the formula and Manuka honey.
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Police executed a search warrant on the business yesterday afternoon, looking for documentation relating back to the syndicate’s operations.
Ms Ke was charged on multiple accounts of participating in and assisting group criminal activity.
She has been granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear next month.
The man was released pending further inquiries.