Dramatic police pursuit leads to arrest of five teens after alleged burglary in affluent suburb

Two of the teens were found hiding on a roof and another two in a backyard shed following a dramatic police pursuit of an allegedly stolen car.

A dramatic police pursuit has led to the arrests of five teens who allegedly stole a Mercedes from a home in one of Melbourne’s most affluent suburbs.

Two of the teens were found hiding on a roof and another two in a shed in a chase that stretched from the city’s southeast to its inner west.

Police were called to a home on Moule Ave in Brighton about 12.20am after residents reported an aggravated burglary and an intruder fleeing the property.

Police allege a 2015 Mercedes Tourer, which is worth about AU$39,999, was stolen from the home and spotted by patrolling officers on the Nepean Highway near South Rd in the city’s inner south.

They say the stolen Mercedes travelled across the city through Southbank, onto the Monash Freeway and then over the Bolte Bridge at speeds of 170km/h.

The vehicle left the freeway at Footscray Rd in the city’s inner west and drove into Yarraville, where it was dumped in Yarraville Gardens, police say.

The five teenagers fled the car, jumping fences into properties and back yards, according to police.

Five teens have been arrested following an alleged aggravated burglary on Moule Ave in Brighton. Picture: ABC News

Police found two of the teens hiding on the roof of a home.

Another two were found hiding in a backyard shed and another in a different backyard.

All five were arrested.

Detectives are still investigating whether the four male teens and one female teen, all aged 15-17, were involved in the theft of a Bentleigh on Paschall Rd following the Brighton burglary.

The Bentleigh was found dumped after it crashed into a parked car.

“It is expected they will be interviewed in relation to the aggravated burglary, theft of motor vehicle and traffic-related offences,” Victoria Police said in a statement.

3AW breakfast host Mark Allen said he was overtaken by “the kids” in the Mercedes on his way to work on Monday.

“I just looked across … there was one in the passenger and tinted windows in the back so I couldn’t see in,” he said.

Allen said the car had its hazard lights on when it “zipped past”, leading him to believe the underage drivers didn’t know how to turn the lights off.

“So we stop at the next set of lights, I’m one car behind, and in front of us a police car turns right,” he said.

“I’m thinking, ‘I wonder if they’ve noticed the hazard lights are on here’. Anyway, the car speeds off. Twenty seconds later the police must have done a U-turn and they came zooming past me.”

The presenter lost sight of the chase at St Kilda junction.

“It was a beautiful car too,” he said.

The five teens are all assisting police with their inquiries.

Originally published as Dramatic police pursuit leads to arrest of five teens after alleged burglary in affluent suburb