ORGANISED SYDNEY GANG.

Shannon News, 30 March 1926, Page 2

ORGANISED SYDNEY GANG.

STEALING FROM OAKS. Several arrests made in Sydney during the month have led to the discovery of an organisation working throughout the city making big money from sneak-fthieving ,from motor cars and others vehicles left unattended in the streets. And the breaking up of the organisation was due to the fact that it was so perfect in its functioning as to draw police attention to its activities. In the past two months there have been hundreds of pounds Avorth of parcels and packages stolen from vehicles in the streets. Every day three or four cases would be reported to the police. Investigating these, the police found that none of the goods stolen made their way through the' usual channels, and they reached the conclusion that the stolen goods were all handled by the one man. He directed the operations of a gang employed specially to make the hauls from cars and carts.

As a first step towards his' capture one constable was detailed for special duty. Dressed in the oldest of eloth.es, to give him the appearance' of a "dead beat," he wandered round the streets of the city which seemed to be specially selected for the thefts —streets in which the warehouses are situated — and soon had quite a formidable "bag" of arrests. His appearance lulled suspicion, and he caught several men in the act of taking the stuff from cars and carts. Subsequent to these arrests the, police learned that their suspicions regarding one central receiving office were correct, and soon afterwards they made three 'concerted raids.

In a Avarehouse in the city they arrested a warehouseman in whose possession they claim to have discovered much of the property reported stolen during the; past month. At a shop in the suburbs they recovered more of it, while at a third place they found parcels and packages in large numbers'. Some of them were hidden in the roof of the place. In most instances the goods were new samples, easily saleable. When brought' to the police station, they filled a room. The warehouseman is regarded as the most important capture, but there are many other arrests in connection with the same scheme.