Riverina Police District have arrested eight people in relation to offences and robberies in the area after establishing a strike force early this year.
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Strike Force Chausson was set up in January to arrest and charge those linked to property and stolen vehicle offences and armed robbery matters, including the taxi driver robberies.
Wagga Police Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Spliet said eight people so far have been arrested and charged with numerous offences and three further people are wanted.
"These three people are wanted for various offences in relation to stolen vehicles and property offences," Chief Inspector Spliet said.
"We will be seeking any information from members of the public who have any detail that they can provide to us in relation to two armed robbers to taxi drivers in late December and early January.
"As well as a ram raid on a local bottle shop."
On January 8, a taxi driver was robbed and the offender was armed with a shotgun and stole money.
Days after the first taxi driver robbery, a second attack occurred on January 15 by two males. One of the males was armed with a shot gun and the other with an iron bar.
The ram raid occurred at a bottle shop on Forsyth Street, Wagga, where five people backed into the door of the bottle shop and stole alcohol.
Wagga Police said they have spoken to a number of people and obtained "various" forms of physical evidence from the crime scenes.
"We believe people and members of the public will have relevant information in relation to who these people are that can assist with our relevant inquiries,” Chief Inspector Spliet said.
Chief Inspector Spliet said police have “poured a number of resources” following the spate of car thefts and armed robberies in the region.
“When we have offences of these types that are being committed, it’s not the usual offences that we see in Wagga or the Riverina,” he said.
“It’s been a good result so far to have those eight people who will be facing the court in relation to those matters.
“We’ve got some people who are linked to the taxi robberies but we believe that there are still some people out there who will have some involvement.”
Chief Inspector Spliet said police believe majority of these people were “involved in a criminal group” to commit these offences and a crime squad has been formed.
“When people’s property is invaded or their cars are stolen, it’s just a dangerous matter that some people intend to drive in stolen vehicles,” Chief Inspector Spliet said.
A crime squad has been formed to stop property and car offences that have plagued the city.
“It’s a real risk to the community so we’ve thrown our local detectives and proactive crime unit, as well as our regional enforcement squad,” Chief Inspector Spliet said.
“I can say that these types of offences are not occurring at the moment, but we’ll continue to investigate these matters and the people responsible will be held accountable.”
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