Allegedly stolen tools discovered by police in Craigieburn

A truckload of stolen tools and house fittings was discovered during police raids in Craigieburn following a spate of construction site burglaries in Melbourne’s leafy inner east.

More than $200,000 worth of allegedly stolen kitchen and bathroom fittings were found stashed inside a rental truck in a haul of hot worksite goods police are calling highly unusual.

The Aladdin’s cave of stolen power tools, shower parts and other household items was discovered at one of two Craigieburn properties targeted by police raids early last month.

Detective Senior Constable David Basham said the robbers took everything they could lay their hands — including the kitchen sink — during the construction site burglaries committed across Stonnington and Boroondara between February and May.

Each of the crimes was conducted under the cover of darkness and the scale of offending was “absolutely unusual”, he said.

"Most other construction site burglaries are singular and isolated,” Sen-Constable Basham said.

“We noticed a series that started to occur from probably around February where we had in excess of 30 construction site burglaries predominantly in Toorak or on the fringes.

“We recovered literally a removalist truck load of property as a result of the search warrants in Craigieburn, and I estimate we only recovered about a quarter of what was taken.”

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The offenders appeared to have offloaded their stolen goods with relative ease, he said, indicating a demand on the black market for ill-gotten tradie goods.

The offenders appeared to have been able to offload their stolen goods with relative ease, he said, indicating a demand on the black market for ill-gotten construction site goods.

He encouraged tradies to take anything of high value with them when they left the worksite at the end of their shift.

He also recommended they install CCTV cameras on site.

“To eliminate the risk of having anything taken, don’t leave it on site,” he said.

Most of the stolen items had been reunited with their rightful owners, he said.

Two men aged 31 and 42 were arrested during the raids last month, with one man charged in relation to 10 of the burglaries.

Police investigations continue to establish possible links between the men and the remaining offences.