A FEARFUL criminal incident involving two stolen cars, a large-scale police operation, the police airwing and four young offenders, three from South Gippsland and one from the Latrobe Valley had its dramatic conclusion in the middle of Wonthaggi at about 11am on Thursday morning this week.
Speaking to the Sentinel-Times shortly after police had arrested the youths involved, Senior Sergeant Jason Hullick of the Wonthaggi Uniform Branch, said the whole incident is believed to have started with the theft of two cars in the Melbourne metropolitan area – an Alfa Romeo stolen from the Yarraville area two days ago, and a Mercedes stolen from Newport overnight on Wednesday night, September 18.
Senior Sergeant Hullick said police believe the cars and their occupants were involved in a series of crimes, including aggravated burglaries, thefts of property and the theft of petrol in the metro area before they were spotted travelling in convoy in the Narre Warren area on Thursday morning prior to 9am.
Police, he said, have attempted to intercept the vehicles, but the drivers failed to pull over and due to the risks involved police have disengaged.
The Police airwing was deployed and located both vehicles in the Pakenham area and followed them.
The cars split up, with the Alfa headed towards Korumburra on the South Gippsland Highway before doing a u-turn on the west side of Korumburra and heading back towards Melbourne.
Locals reported seeing the police helicopter in the Loch area at the time.
At the intersection of the South Gippsland Highway and the Bass Highway at Lang Lang, they’ve turned and travelled towards Phillip Island.
The driver of the Alfa has u-turned again at San Remo, shadowed by police, and headed towards Wonthaggi.
Again members of the San Remo community reported seeing the helicopter circling overhead.
Bass Coast Highway Patrol officers successfully deployed stop sticks at Dalyston.
And they were deployed again near the 20 Mine Shaft Memorial outside Wonthaggi by Wonthaggi Uniform Officers, before it all came a head outside the KFC store in McKenzie Street at about 11am.
The Alfa was headed for Wonthaggi reportedly for a rendezvous with the other stolen car, the Mercedes, at the intersection of McKenzie and Graham streets (Bass Highway) and the two occupants of the Alfa have left their car and attempted to get into the Mercedes but all four occupants of the two cars were stopped by police with arrests made at the scene.
There was also a minor collision with a police car at the location.
The four offenders, all of them male, were being interviewed by Casey Criminal Investigation Unit Police at the Wonthaggi Police Station during the afternoon on Thursday.
Two of the alleged offenders have been described as being 15 years of age with two 14-year-olds, three of whom are from the local South Gippsland area and one from the Latrobe Valley.
It is likely that at least some of the alleged offenders are connected with a series of aggravated burglaries and thefts of cars and property in the local area over recent months.
Police have been widely praised on social media for apprehending the alleged offenders. In turn police noted that the incident posed a significant risk to public safety while the offenders were on the loose.
Police from Casey and Greater Dandenong together with Bass Coast Police joined forces to bring the incident to a safe and controlled conclusion.
