Police deploy tire spikes to stop teens in stolen Toyota Civic

Police have used tire spikes to stop three teens in car stolen from the Toowoomba region. It was the latest in a long line of offences committed by the teens at the weekend.

A teenage crime spree came to an abrupt end after police set a road spike trap to stop three teenage boys who had broken into 10 homes, businesses and vehicles over the weekend.

Police laid the trap near Wine Drive in Wilsonton Heights about 8am Monday and successfully spiked the tires of a Honda Civic stolen from a Kingsthorpe home earlier that day.

They arrested three teens.

Two of the boys, aged just 14 and 15, are alleged to have broken into homes in Gowrie Street Kingsthorpe, Weebah Place at Cambooya, two homes in Warwick, a home in Margaret Street Newtown and a Clarker Drive home in Darling Heights.

They are further alleged to have broken into several vehicles and stolen personal items in Newtown and Allora along with fuel from service stations in Sladevale and Charlton.

Together they are charged with 46 offences.

Each break in is alleged to have occurred in the 48 hours before the teens’s arrest.

A third boy, aged 14, who was behind the wheel of the Honda Civic when police spiked its tire, faces single counts each of dangerous operation of a vehicle and failing to appear.

The arrests come at a busy time for police with 18 vehicles stolen in Toowoomba in the past week and 18 also stolen the week before.

Three of these vehicles remain at large.

Darling Downs City Patrol Acting Inspector Kim Hills said the thefts were opportunistic and urged residents to lock up.

“If you leave a door or window unlocked and valuables in plain sight, regrettably offenders will take the opportunity to steal them,” she said.

Police rely on information from the public nab offenders in the act or link them to multiple crimes and A/Insp Hill urged residents to phone Triple-0 if they see anything suspicious.

This includes coming forward with CCTV or dashcam footage.

“The wonderful thing is some members of the public have been able to capture CCTV of the thefts and that has been incredibly helpful for police,” she said.

“Some of the resolution of the CCTV is excellent.”