‘Grubs’: police chief vows to lock up looters

Looting has piled on the pain for flood-stricken Brisbane residents after evacuated properties were raided.

Queensland Minister for Police and Corrective Services Mark Ryan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Looting has piled on the pain for flood-stricken Brisbane residents, with police on alert to stop inundated homes being plundered by “grubs” in the owners’ absence.

Queensland Police Minister Mark Ryan said looters would feel the full force of the law after evacuated properties were raided.

Stealing during a natural disaster is classed as an aggravated ­offence, carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail.

“What you are doing is not just illegal, but you are also grubs,” an angry Mr Ryan said.

“You are preying on the most vulnerable Queenslanders at the time of their most vulnerability.

“The police will find you and bring you before the courts.

“You’re not even Queenslanders when you engage in this behaviour because Queenslanders help their mates … if you are thieving from them, you are not a Queenslander, you are a grub.”

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said a 21-year-old man had been arrested and charged with burglary following three cases of alleged looting in Goodna, Blackstone and Bundamba involving two businesses and one home.

“I can’t overstate how disgusted I am that this has occurred in areas where people have had to leave their houses,” she said.

Police said several other reports of looting were being ­investigated.

The incidents infuriated flooded householders and business operators as they tried to access damaged properties.

For the third day running, a high tide and controlled water ­releases from Wivenhoe Dam, Brisbane’s flood shield, combined to inundate low-lying parts of the city. The inner-west suburb of Auchenflower remained under coffee-coloured water, a heartbreaking scene that locals could only confront by canoe or dinghy.

In Oxley, Tanya Rees said strangers had entered her yard, which was more than a metre-deep in water – but fled when they realised someone was home.

People living nearby who ­defied an evacuation order had confronted suspected looters in their homes, locals said. One resident told of how he had found strangers on his verandah who evidently used a boat to access his flood-bound home.

In Gladstone Street, one resident’s car was stolen from their garage on Saturday night when the rain was at its heaviest and people were fleeing. “It brings out the best and worst in people,” Oxley resident Raoul D’Arcy said.

Ms Rees said some of the looters were more brazen, openly sorting through soaked or water-damaged household goods put out on the footpath to dry.