Police sting nets ‘opportunistic’ cars thieves breaking in while people work from home

Wild police footage shows the moment police swoop on 150 of Queensland’s alleged worst car thieves during major raids south of Brisbane. The bust ends a long-running sting that’s seen 286 charges laid.

A LONG-running police sting south of Brisbane has netted some of the state’s alleged worst car thieves.

Police arrested 150 people on 286 charges, after a 28-day operation targeting some known southside alleged car crooks operating in and around Logan.

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The moment police arrest alleged southeast Queensland car thieves. Photo: QPS

The successful operation resulted in the recovery of 35 stolen vehicles and led to police raiding 11 properties and interviewing more than 430 people linked to the thefts.

A further 13 cars were impounded.

Detective Inspector Tod Reid said police were amazed that the opportunistic thieves were still targeting houses while people were working from home due to the coronavirus.

He said Operation Sierra Abraid was designed to target known car theft hot spots and thieves who had been identified as causing significant problems in the community.

It was hoped the arrests would eventually lead to a drop in the number of break-ins and unlawful use of vehicles.

One of the accused is put in cuffs.

“We want people to feel safe in their homes,” Det Insp Reid said.

“We don’t want people fearing their cars will be stolen.

“It’s unfortunate that even in these tough times, there are still people out there who will engage in this type of criminal behaviour.”

Earlier this month police called on the public to help find six cars stolen in one week from Logan, with Woodridge and Rochedale South the two main suburbs targeted.

They were looking for a blue Ford Falcon stolen from Rochedale South with registration number 743 RHQ along with a silver Mitsubishi Pajero with rego 287 ZHC also stolen from that suburb.

One of the accused is cuffed on the ground.

A blue BMW 428i with registration 406 ZLI was stolen from Woodridge where police were also looking for a white Mazda 121 with registration 625 XQV.

A white Nissan Tiida was stolen from Logan Reserve and a black Holden Equinox was taken from Kuraby.

Officers from the Public Safety Response Team, the Road Policing Unit, POLAIR, State Crime Command and the Dog Squad were also part of the month-long operation.

Originally published as Police sting nets ‘opportunistic’ cars thieves breaking in while people work from home