Two men have been arrested for allegedly dismantling and exporting stolen vehicles at auto-dismantler yards in Upper Hutt and Christchurch.
Simultaneous search warrants at the two locations involving police and Customs saw a 21-year-old from Upper Hutt and a 39-year-old in Christchurch arrested.
The men both face charges relating to receiving stolen vehicles and breaching the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 2004.
“This is a shot across the bow of the second-hand industry,” said Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Sarah Graham, officer in charge of the Canterbury Tactical Crime Unit.
“If you break the law, we will track you down and work across districts and agencies to do it.”
The investigation into a rise in car crime began in March and came to focus on two auto-dismantler yards: one in Christchurch and one in Upper Hutt.
Police believe the two operations were fuelling vehicle thefts in their wider districts.
Officers became suspicious after finding breaches of the Act following a visit to the Christchurch auto-dismantler, with investigators alleging multiple stolen cars had been bought at “grossly undervalued rates”, Graham said, adding the investigation was dubbed Operation Mane.
“Among the evidence Op Mane uncovered was that an Upper Hutt auto dismantler was operating under a similar business model.”
Stolen vehicles were subsequently discovered at the Upper Hutt business by Wellington police under Operation Drake which has been running for more than a year.
It was prompted by a 58% rise in unrecovered commercial vehicle thefts in the past five years.
Detective Inspector Haley Ryan said police strongly suspect that most unrecovered vehicles had been dismantled and exported overseas.
“Stolen commercial vehicles have much more value to the receiver being dismantled and sold for parts versus them being rebirthed and sold.
“We would be very naive to believe that the businesses that are subject to today’s search warrants are the only car wrecking businesses to be involved in such illegal activities.”
Graham said police would not rule out further arrests as investigation teams look through evidence gathered so far.
“This is the second auto-dismantler to be prosecuted in Christchurch in the last year in relation to similar offending.
“Police regularly monitor compliance of secondhand dealers and the majority comply with the law and work closely with us.
“Unfortunately, there are people out there willing to benefit from crime, but today’s work shows the commitment of Police and our partner agencies to stopping those entities and individuals.”
