A crime syndicate of teenagers has been dismantled after the arrests of a gang’s ringleaders linked to cigarette and cash burglaries across Melbourne.
Eastern Region Crime Squad detectives arrested four adults, including a 19-year-old Ferntree Gully man and a 53-year-old Silvan man, on Wednesday 29 May who allegedly orchestrated a network of child offenders to steal over $2 million worth of cigarettes and cash from service stations and supermarkets across Melbourne.
Investigators will allege two 19-year-old men recruited more than 20 children aged between 12 and 17 to carry out over 140 cigarette burglaries and armed robberies across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs since the start of this year.
These burglaries and armed robberies occurred at service stations, supermarkets, and tobacconists in suburbs including Blackburn, Balwyn, Boroondara, Burwood, Clayton, Camberwell, Doncaster East, Hawthorn, Lilydale, Oakleigh, and Somerville.
Police will allege the two 19-year-old men would provide children with stolen vehicles and specific locations to carry out the burglaries and steal cigarettes. It’s alleged the two men, who have known links to youth gangs, would pay the children a couple of hundred dollars cash in return for the stolen cigarettes.
The cigarettes would then allegedly be on-sold to two cigarette vendors – a 33-year-old man and a 53-year-old man – with businesses in Silvan, Burwood, and Cremorne.
Sixteen early morning warrants executed on Wednesday led to the arrest of these four men, as well as three other adults aged 19, 19, 18 and a 15-year-old boy. Two of the men and the 15-year-old boy have previously been arrested in connection to cigarette burglaries, however their arrests today relate to an aggravated home invasion in Bulleen where they allegedly forced entry to a home while armed with knives.
The other 19-year-old was arrested in respect to weapons related charges.
Eastern Region Regional Crime Advisor Acting Inspector Dale Maxwell said these arrests proved that police were also prioritising the charging of those responsible for the planning and coordination of these crimes.
“Children as young as 12 have allegedly been recruited by adults intent on lining their own pockets without getting their hands dirty,” he said.
“These adults are intentionally preying on youth to offend on their behalf in the misguided hope they won’t be linked to the offending while they profit substantially.”
Before Wednesday, police had already made 38 arrests in relation to the 140 cigarette burglaries committed since the start of the year – 37 of which related to children under the age of 18. These people were charged with more than 270 offences.
The investigation into the alleged ring leaders has been running since February this year.
The 19-year-old Ferntree Gully man and his 19-year-old Burwood counterpart were arrested and expected to be charged with armed robbery, burglary, theft of motor vehicle and other charges. Both men are currently being interviewed by police. Police will allege these two individuals were the main orchestrators behind this offending.
The Silvan man and a 33-year-old Burwood man were both arrested and expected to be charged with handling stolen goods. Both men are also currently being interviewed by police. Police will allege these men were aware of the origins of these cigarettes and on sold them for a profit.
Seized items from the properties searched included a significant amount of cigarettes, tobacco and vapes, $243,000 cash from the residential address of the 33-year-old Burwood man, over 200 cannabis plants, luxury items suspected of being proceeds of crime, including designer handbags and shoes and weapons including a machete, sword, imitation firearm, nunchakus, extendable metal baton, knuckle dusters and a hunting knife.
Police have observed a sharp increase in cigarette burglaries across Melbourne this year, with around 80 per cent of those arrested for these crimes under the age of 18.
Police intelligence also indicates more than 40 per cent of child offenders arrested in connection to cigarette burglaries were already known to police as part of Operation Trinity, due to their involvement in committing aggravated burglaries and car thefts.
“As part of this investigation, police have identified a sophisticated network of child offenders carrying out serious and violent crimes on behalf of adults with known youth gang links,” acting inspector Maxwell said.
“Concerningly, a significant proportion of these children were already known to Victoria Police for sneaking into homes and stealing cars to joyride across the city.”
Police understand and will allege that “as little as a couple of hundred dollars” is what was offered to these children, enticing them to steal millions of dollars worth of cigarettes and cash.
Most recent cigarette burglaries have seen closed service stations, supermarkets and tobacconists targeted, however armed robberies targeting cigarettes while stores are open have also increased.
During the investigation, police have maintained regular communication with retail businesses across Melbourne to provide support to store owners and employees, in addition to high visibility patrols.
