By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
YOUTHS arrested over the spate of home invasions and aggravated burglaries, which targeted luxury cars throughout the south-east last weekend, are due to face court.
Investigators from Dandenong Embona Taskforce have charged one youth from Dandenong who has been bailed for offences including aggravated burglary, theft of a motor vehicle, handling stolen goods and possession of offensive weapons.
Three youths from Pakenham, two youths from Frankston and one youth from Dandenong have been remanded in custody.
The series of car thefts occurred between Friday 19 and Saturday 20 February and spanned Keysborough, Berwick, Narre Warren South and Wheelers Hill.
Detective Sergeant Ivan Bobetic from the Dandenong Embona Taskforce said investigations into the car thefts and possible links to the notorious apex gang remained ongoing.
“It’s certainly an avenue of inquiry – it appears the ‘apex gang’ is so widespread now, however to categorise them as a group or gang is folly at this point in time, it’s just something that we’ve got in the back of our minds and are exploring as part of the investigation,” Det Sgt Bobetic said.
“This type of offending has been occurring for 18 months to two years but not all are related to this group of offenders,” he added.
The group arrested for offences reported over the past two to three weeks are all under 18 years old, but Det Sgt Bobetic said a range of different groups and ages were involved in the burglaries to some degree.
“A lot of them are known to each other,” he said.
“The level of violence and lack of contrition is alarming for their ages – it seems they have no concept of what they are doing, conscience for the victims or they simply don’t care.”
Det Sgt Bobetic said the thefts and home invasions seemed to occur in the early hours of the morning and urged anyone who saw people loitering around their home or neighbour’s house to call triple zero immediately.
“It’s a sad day when you can’t leave your car keys on your kitchen bench,” he said.
The recent car thefts all occurred overnight and detectives received nine reports of aggravated burglaries between 6am and 7.45am on Saturday 20 February.
A 2015 black Mercedes Benz coupe was stolen from Berwick about 6am, while a 2015 grey Mercedes wagon was stolen from Berwick about an hour later.
Sometime between 1am and 7am on Saturday, a 2010 black BMW X5 wagon was stolen in Keysborough, and a 2006 blue Holden Statesman was stolen in Narre Warren South between 1.30am and 8.40am.
A 2015 white Volkswagen Golf was also stolen from Wheelers Hill between 2am and 3am on Saturday.
Det Sgt Bobetic said police had recovered some of cars since the weekend.
“There were a number of home invasions committed and vehicles and personal property and electrical equipment was also stolen and we are making inquiries to recover that property.”
He added that the cars were often found to be burnt out or dumped on the side of the road.
“At this point if you own a luxury car, we suggest locking it away out of sight and for people to be vigilant – residents need to be alert, not alarmed,” he said.
Police are still investigating the motives behind the spate of car thefts, but Det Sgt Bobetic said the risk of a disturbed homeowner waking up and getting hurt during a home invasion was a major concern.
“We ask people to comply with them and their demands and not to take them on, get them out of the house as quickly as possible and then call police,” he said.
Investigations are ongoing, with further suspects expected to be arrested and charged in the coming days.
Anyone with any information in relation to this series of offences is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
