Orange police believe they have landed a telling blow on the people responsible for the spate of stolen and torched cars in the city.
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On Wednesday, the Canobolas Proactive Crime and Property Investigation Team arrested two teenagers they believe could be responsible for stealing and burning up to 12 vehicles over four weeks.
“Police are confident that these parties are involved in a number of offences in the area and will continue to conduct inquiries in relation to their involvement,” Canobolas Local Area Command’s crime manager Detective Inspector Bruce Grassick said.
“Those investigations have determined there is a strong possibility they are linked.
“It’s had a significant impact on the Orange community. Police have acted expeditiously in relation to this investigation, found these parties relatively quickly and acted swiftly.”
Inspector Grassick said investigators were not excluding the possibility additional people may be responsible for thefts from and of cars.
“We do believe there is a group of offenders involved in these matters and we will continue to target these particular individuals,” Inspector Grassick said.
“We’re proactively targeting these people, we’ve been out night and day establishing not only proactive patrols but targeting particular individuals in relation to these fires and we’ll continue to target these people in relation to fires and crime hot spots.”
On Wednesday, a 18-year-old man, 17-year-old boy and 16-year-old boy were arrested over the theft of a Mitsubishi Triton and a credit card.
The credit card was stolen from an unlocked car in Mitchell Street at 10pm on Tuesday, while the Triton was stolen from Seville Parade at 2.30am on Wednesday.
“Police established these individuals had stolen a card, activated that card at a couple of locations,” Inspector Grassick said.
“Police subsequently tracked those individuals through the activations of the card.”
At 4am on Wednesday, the Triton was torched at the intersection of Spring Street and Algona Crescent.
The 18-year-old and 16-year-old were charged with stealing a car, entering a car without consent, theft and two counts of fraud.
They have been granted conditional bail to appear in Orange Local Court and Orange Children’s Court on August 14.
The 17-year-old was released pending further inquiries.