Over $500,000 worth of allegedly stolen vehicles seized in Melbourne

Officers carried out a search warrant at a “semi-rural” property in Cranbourne East yesterday morning.

Police say they seized 10 stolen cars – including seven Holden V8s, a Landcruiser, a Mazda BT50 and a Toyota – three stolen road bikes, a stolen dirt bike, five stolen car engines, one stolen trailer, a stolen front-end loader, a stolen forklift, a quad bike, a small quantity of cash and a traffickable quantity of what appeared to methylamphetamine.

A 39-year-old man will face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on drug and stolen goods charges on March 27.

Police said all seized vehicles had cloned number plates and had their vehicle identifiers (VIN and engine numbers) either removed, altered or defaced.

They believe the property was being used to store stolen vehicles and facilitate the rebirthing.

“The term motor vehicle rebirthing covers a few different scenarios, but in essence, it refers to modifying or removing identifying information from a stolen vehicle or stolen parts to disguise the fact that it has been stolen,” Detective Inspector Julie Macdonald said.

“The wider ramifications of this kind of crime can ripple through to the entire community – from someone who can’t get to work or get their kids to school because their car’s been stolen, to insurance premiums being raised for everyone to cover the costs of vehicle theft.

“Rebirthed vehicles can be a major safety threat to unwitting buyers – often the rebirthing process is not carried out by a qualified mechanic, meaning that the car could have serious issues which can result in an accident.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with information about vehicle rebirthing is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.