Dodgy dealers focus of Police

Several months of planning, intelligence gathering and investigation into the region-wide levels of compliance with the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbroker's Act 2004 has this week resulted in dozens of compliance checks on many such premises and search warrants executed on known burglars' addresses.

Of the 858 licensed Secondhand Dealers in the Auckland region, 115 were identified by Police as of interest because of concerns around levels of compliance with the Act when it comes to the types of property Police have been focused on during Operation Castle. In all, 94 breaches of the Act were detected during the compliance checks.

Throughout Wednesday and Thursday of this week, about 240 Police officers and support staff from the three Auckland policing districts executed 44 search warrants and made 47 arrests.

A range of items has been seized including, cash, jewellery, drugs, laptops, DVD players, cellphones, camcorders, firearms, about $300,000 of high end watches.

Operation Castle was designed to focus on the levels of compliance among secondhand dealers in the trade of stolen goods and jewellery - particularly gold - and to disrupt the trade of such goods by targeting known burglars.

"Over the past three years the price of gold bullion has doubled from US$600/ounce in 2007 to US$1,200/ounce," officer in charge Detective Inspector Greg Cramer says.

"Gold has been the item of choice for many burglars recently. Generally such items are relatively small, portable and they provide a high return.

"The region - from the Bombay Hills in the south to Wellsford in the north - recorded nearly 18,000 burglaries between July 2008 and June 30, 2009.

"By focusing on known burglars and secondhand dealers and the role they can sometimes play in providing a market for stolen goods, we'll restrict the number of outlets burglars can access to market their ill-gotten items."

Mr Cramer said it was important that all licensed secondhand dealers complied with the Act so as to ensure the industry as a whole was respected for its honesty and integrity. Failure to comply fully with the Act could lead to prosecution.

All secondhand dealers must be licensed to trade and must retain property they've acquired for 14 days, before they're able to on-sell.

"When it comes to gold jewellery, it would appear that some dealers have knowingly been buying it, melting it down and on-selling to gold bullion traders, in defiance of their statutory obligations.

"Traders should always question why a customer has melted gold product to sell, particularly if there's a regular supply from that customer."

Operation Castle was mandated by the Auckland region's Police commanders, namely Assistant Commissioner Steve Shortland, Supts George Fraser, Mike Bush, Bill Searle and Ted Cox.

The Ministry of Justice is the licensing organisation responsible for the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act whereas Police are responsible for enforcement of the Act and regulations.

For further information about the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 2004, see
www.justice.govt.nz/tribunals/licensing-authority-of-secondhand-dealers-and-pawnbrokers

For relevant Crimestoppers posters, see www.crimestoppers-nz.org

Anyone who has information about non-compliant secondhand dealers, questionable business practises or active burglars, should call their local Police or provide information anonymously to 0800 CRIMESTOPPERS - 0800 555 111.

Avoid becoming a victim - or an accessory to a crime by:

• Storing jewellery and other small valuable items safely
• Keep photographic records of your valuable items
• If approached by someone trying to sell gold and gems, ask if they're the legitimate owner
• Remember - if the price is unusually cheap, it may be stolen