By Gabriella Payne
A number of teenagers were arrested by police on Friday 14 January in relation to a series of burglaries that have been plaguing local business owners throughout the Pakenham area.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Chris O’Brien from the Cardinia Criminal Investigation Unit said that three teens, one as young as 13 years of age, had been tracked by police with the help of the canine unit and arrested on Friday – with two having faced the Childrens’ Court on Monday morning.
He said that although three culprits had been identified, the investigation remained ongoing as police “believe there are others involved“ – and he urged anyone with information to come forward.
The series of robberies that the group are believed to have orchestrated range from both large shopping centre attacks to small businesses, including ransacking the Henry Road cafe, Oven Kraft, three times over the last few months – the two most recent incidents occurring in the last fortnight.
Oven Kraft’s owner and operator, Amit Sharma, said that it had been incredibly disheartening to be the constant target of these attacks, as business was hard enough already due to the pandemic.
“We are struggling with things the way they are anyway because of this new variant… so this is just the last thing we need,“ he said.
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