By JOLENE OGLE
ONE hundred stolen Bonsai trees can now return to their rightful owners, thanks to an anonymous tip-off from the public.
Last week local police raided a number of Noosa homes after receiving a call to Crime Stoppers, tipping them off to the whereabouts of the much-loved Bonsai trees that had been stolen from a number of homes.
One victim was Hamish Dods of Noosaville who woke on 3 December to find thieves had broken through the rear fence of his home and stolen over 30 Bonsai trees from his property, including a fig tree that was given to him as a wedding present.
Hamish’s wife, Annabel, confirmed the fig tree as well as most of the other Bonsai trees had been recovered in the raids.
Rae and Neill Devlin of Tewantin had their Bonsai trees stolen over a year ago, and said they wanted to thank the person or people who reported the whereabouts of the missing Bonsai plants to police.
“We were unfortunate enough to have had ours stolen several months ago, and due to the Noosa police we were able to recover 75 per cent of our Bonsai plants,” they said in a letter to Noosa Today.
“We are so grateful for the return of these as we are of the older generation and had put heart and soul in to feeding, pruning and loving them. Once again many thanks to all concerned.”
Noosa Today posted the news of the found Bonsai trees to Facebook, prompting other victims to come forward and collect their plants.
One Facebook user, Jade Baynes, said her dad’s trees had been stolen previously, but he was able to collect them, thanks to the anonymous tip-off to police.
Police have confirmed two males have been charged in relation to the thefts. One male faces four charges and the other has been charged with 10 offences.
