By Abbey Cannan
Noosa has become an easy target for criminals over the holiday period, with seven cars being stolen in just one week.
Noosa Police officer-in-charge acting senior sergeant Troy Cavell said last week a group of juveniles from Logan stole the cars over three nights from around Noosa Waters and Sunshine Beach.
“They’ve all been recovered,“ Snr Sgt Cavall said.
“The group of 15-16 year olds came up from Logan and they had never been up this way. They just steal cars for joy-riding and go back down to the Gold Coast.
“When crime does happen, it’s usually within a couple of days that you can identify there has been a pattern and who’s in the area, who’s moving. Last week’s offenders were kids and this week they were in their mid-20s.“
A suspect of a seperate spate of stolen property was arrested on Monday morning after he rode a stolen push-bike into a canal in Noosa, attempting to flee police questioning.
“Further investigations located a unit at Weyba Road and after a search they found more suspects,“ Snr Sgt Cavall said.
“Our Property Crime Squad (detectives that look after property offences) from Kawana came up and took them back and charged them with a number of offences.“
The group had been staying in a unit in Noosa and went on a crime spree, stealing cars and breaking into homes over the weekend.
“Some were locals and some were from Brisbane. They’ve been charged with offences such as unlawful entry of premises, burglary and a lot of stealing,“ Sgt Cavall said.
He said offenders were targeting unlocked vehicles and insecure homes.
“People that have lived in Noosa for a long time, they think that it’s a protected environment and people become too relaxed with their property, leaving keys in cars and houses unlocked,“ he said.
“A lot of criminals are probably now seeing it as an easy target.
“The good thing is, we don’t get a lot of serious crime in Noosa, so when something does happen it’s usually all hands on deck until we can get the offenders and then it stops.“
Sgt Cavall said he believed Noosa had been an absolute target for crime this year.
“Look at the number of people that are rolling in for Schoolies and over Christmas, it’s absolutely packed. It’s a lot busier than it has been in previous years but the mad rush has dropped away now,“ he said.
“Our crime rate is slowing down back to normal. Accomodation is still quite busy but it is dropping.“
