$40,000 excavator theft

AN EXCAVATOR worth $40,000 has been stolen from the new Lynbrook Industrial Estate.
The 6.5 tonne Kabelco excavator was stolen from the construction site last week in what police described as a brazen theft.
Detective Senior Constable Rod Maroney, from Cranbourne CIU, said a truck would have to have been used to convey the excavator, stolen from Chapel Street, which runs immediately parallel to the South Gippsland Highway in Lynbrook.
“The theft would have been seen from the highway,” Det Sen Const Maroney said.
The incident is the latest in a series of thefts and destruction at building sites around Cranbourne and Lynbrook.
The Lynbrook Industrial Estate around Commercial Drive has been the worst hit with three nights of mass criminal damage this year.
Between 11 and 12 July, vandals caused $40,000 damage after they smashed 80 windows on a factory under construction and destroyed machinery.
On 26 June, three factories in the Lynbrook Industrial Estate were broken into and ransacked overnight, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.
The offenders took control of heavy machinery, which they rammed into cars, buildings, other machinery and boom gates.
Det Sen Const Maroney urged anyone who saw an excavator being removed from the site between 18 and 22 August to phone 5991 0600.