Police pursuit of stolen cars in Oamaru

At about 11.10pm on 16/7/08 Oamaru Police went to stop a Corolla motorcar traveling without it's headlights on south of Oamaru.

The vehicle failed to stop and a pursuit commenced on secondary roads until the vehicle finally headed south on State Highway One. It was established that the car had been stolen from Dunedin.

Additional police were called out from surrounding stations and also from Dunedin to intercept the car. During the pursuit another vehicle was observed shadowing the pursuit.

After about 30 minutes the Corolla has blown its gearbox and come to a stop. A male and female were taken into custody.

At about that time the vehicle that was shadowing the pursuit has driven past and also been identified as a stolen car from Hampden. It was signaled to stop and pulled over without incident. It had one male occupant who was wanted on warrants.

The group had been traveling together and had been committing car thefts between Palmerston and Oamaru, and in Dunedin itself over the last 3 days.

The male and female in the Corolla were also disqualified drivers and as they swapped driving during the pursuit both have been charged with disqualified driving along with other driving offences.

The two males aged 18 years and the female aged 17 years will be appearing in the Oamaru District court today on a range of charges.