Five charged after two allegedly stolen vehicles tracked, with one stopped at door of Westfield Helensvale
Police have revealed fresh details of an operation spanning the Gold Coast on Sunday which ended with the arrest of a man at Westfield shopping centre and charges laid against several youths.
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Five males aged between 14 and 21 have been charged after stolen cars were tracked across the Gold Coast on Sunday.
Police began tracking a Mercedes Benz CLA200 on Pine Ridge Rd in Coombabah at 3.15pm on Sunday. The luxury vehicle had allegedly been stolen from a property at Hawken Drive in St Lucia.
With the help of the police helicopter (Polair), the car, which had four of the alleged offenders inside, was tracked to the car park of a shopping centre in Robina.
There the four allegedly abandoned the Mercedes and got into another vehicle which it will be alleged was driven by a 16-year-old boy from Labrador.
Polair continued monitoring the group as they drove around the Broadbeach area before returning to Robina, where the vehicle was intercepted by police at Ron Penhaligon Way.
Police allege that one of the five, 21-year-old from Mermaid Waters, got into a Ford Ranger allegedly stolen at Pinetree Court, Mudgeeraba on August 10, while the other four were arrested at the scene by police.
Polair then tracked the Ranger as it drove north. Tyre spikes were deployed and it finally came to a halt in the middle of a road beside an entrance to Westfield Helensvale.
The man then allegedly ran into the shopping centre, where he was arrested by police.
After spending Sunday night in the Southport Watchhouse the five males allegedly involved have since been charged with a variety of offences.
* A 21-year-old from Mermaid Waters was charged with two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle and disqualified driving. He appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on Monday and is next due to appear on September 10.
* An 18-year-old Bli Bli man was charged with two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle. He was due to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on August 12.
* A 17-year-old boy from Pimpama was charged with two counts each of enter dwelling and commit indictable offence and received tainted property, three counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle and one count each of possess utensil or pipe, fraud and stealing.
* A 16-year-old boy from Labrador was charged with possess knife in public place, unlawful possession of a weapon (knife), burglary and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
* A 14-year-old boy from Arundel was charged with unlawful use of motor vehicles aircraft or vessels.
All three boys were due to appear in Southport Children's Court on August 12.
No please have been entered.
Acting Chief Superintendent Peter Miles said the public were not in any danger during the police operation on Sunday afternoon, with the alleged offenders unaware they were being tracked.
“It was a pretty well co-ordinated job both in the air and on the ground. There were no acts of dangerous driving. The occupants of the vehicles weren’t aware police were tracking them,” he said.
He said both the Mercedes and the Ford Ranger had allegedly been stolen during break and enter offences.
“These are relatively new vehicles. They can’t be hot-wired, you really do need the keys, so as a result (offenders) do break-ins and that’s how they get these vehicles,” he said.
“It’s offending that’s happening all over southeast Queensland.”
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