New England police conduct rural crime operation at saleyards in Inverell, Tenterfield

An increase in stock theft in the Inverell, Deepwater and Tenterfield areas prompted the police operation involving officers from across the New England and as far as the coast.

New England Detective Inspector Ann Joy said investigators carried out nine property inspections as well as rural patrols of eight separate areas.

“The New England has been experiencing an increase in reports of stock theft over the past 12 months,” she said.

“Essentially it was a high visibility operation targeting the movement of stock to and from local saleyards in the Tenterfield and Inverell areas.

“Officers were tasked to patrol our rural areas in Deepwater and north of Tenterfield to the Queensland border, conducting a number of property inspections in locations where we concerned about issues, whether it was stock theft or equipment stolen from rural areas.”

Four swoops of saleyards were conducted at Tenterfield and Inverell while officers also stopped several stock trucks on route.

“A number of vehicle stops were made along roads where that theft activity has occurred as well as the main throughfares in and around those areas,” Detective Inspector Joy said.

“We were gathering information in relation to those persons who may be responsible for the commission of those offences.

“We encourage reporting and that’s a good thing because it helps to establish that we have an issue and give us further ability to allocate appropriate resources.”

Detective Inspector Joy said several tickets or defect notices were issued for numerous driving offences or vehicles.

“The resources that we utilised during the two-day operation included rural crime investigators from the New England and also Coffs Clarence and Richmond commands,” she said.

“Eight national vendor declaration checks, or the documentation required for the transport of stock, were also examined by officers.

“Traffic and Highway Patrol Command officers also conducted both random breath testing and drug testing at sites and there were two positive indications to prohibited substances and those samples have now been forward to the laboratory for analysis.”