A specialist police unit has successfully prosecuted a northern suburbs business for its involvement in stripping stolen cars for parts.
Operation Neoplastic involved detectives from the Vehicle Crime Squad and focused on organised crime-related car thefts.
Officer in charge Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Ward said the unit honed in on ‘re-birthing’, where a stolen car is given a new identify before being on-sold.
“These are organised crimes, which involve substantial planning and organisation, with the purpose of obtaining profit, gain, power or influence,” Detective Senior Sergeant Ward said.
He said crime syndicates use thieves to steal cars for them, dissemble them into parts, and then ship them overseas in containers.
Operation Neoplastic wrapped up in June. It resulted in a 21-month jail term for Campbellfield business owner Zane Dib.
Dib was charged in relation to the exporting of 11 containers of car parts and accessories to the Middle East, with a value of about $400,000.
Senior Sergeant Ward said detectives visited Dib’s unregistered Campbellfield business last April, where they found two stolen cars. He said search warrants on Dib’s house uncovered on-board diagnostic readers, blank keys, vehicle log books, personal documents, stolen car parts and bull bars.
Detectives also found invoices from locksmiths, which revealed details of 106 car keys Dib had had cut over a two-year period.
Senior Sergeant Ward said it is important that vehicle owners make it as difficult as possible for thieves to steal cars.
“Vehicle owners should remove all valuables from the vehicle, and don’t leave keys where they can be easily found in the home,” he said.
Vehicle Crime Squad investigations into re-birthing are on-going.
A Campbellfield mechanics business owner was recently charged with 51 offences, including handling stolen goods and dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime. A committal hearing has been scheduled for the Melbourne Magistrates court on January 22 next year.
