Over $500,000 in stolen vehicles and parts were recovered from a semi-rural Cranbourne East home in the morning of Wednesday 20 March.
A 39-year-old man was charged by detectives from the Vehicle Crime Squad with trafficking drugs of dependence, 11 counts of handling stolen goods and possessing proceeds of crime-related offences.
With assistance from the Vehicle Examination Unit, a search warrant was executed at the home which stored 10 stolen vehicles, of which were seven Holden V8s, a Toyota Landcruiser, a Mazda BT50, and another Toyota vehicle.
There were also three stolen road bikes, a stolen dirt bike, five stolen car engines, one stolen trailer, a stolen front-end loader, a stolen forklift and a stolen quad bike, all of which were seized by police.
Police believe that the property was used for vehicle rebirthing, which Julie Macdonald, detective inspector from the Vehicle Crime Squad said “refers to modifying or removing identifying information from a stolen vehicle or parts to disguise it has been stolen”.
“The wider ramifications of this kind of crime can ripple through the entire community, from someone who can’t get to work or school because their car’s been stolen, to insurance premiums being raised for everyone to cover the costs of vehicle theft.”
Other items were also seized from the home, including a small quantity of cash and a traffickable amount of suspected methylamphetamine.
All of the seized vehicles were displaying cloned number plates and had their vehicle identifiers, the VIN and engine numbers, either removed, altered or defaced.
“Rebirthed vehicles can be a major safety threat to unwitting buyers, often the process is not carried out by a qualified mechanic, meaning that the car could have serious issues which can result in an accident,” inspector Macdonald said.
The suspect was bailed to appear at the Magistrate’s Court on 27 March with further investigation still ongoing.
Authorities have requested anyone with information of similar illegal activity to contact Crime Stoppers via 1800 333 000, or online through crimestoppersvic.com.au/report-a-crime/
