Juveniles are charged over crime spree

A four-day crime spree stretching from Pingelly to Tambellup ended with police arresting six juveniles after deploying “stingers” on Great Southern Highway.

Police initially had to abandon their pursuit of an allegedly stolen Ford Territory last Thursday as it reached dangerous speeds.

They had intercepted the vehicle after a reported fuel drive-off in Tambellup.

Travelling north on Great Southern Highway, six juveniles aged 13 to 15 allegedly passed through Katanning after police abandoned the chase. However, officers were waiting for the Ford Territory north of Woodanilling and they stopped the vehicle in its tracks with tyre-deflation spikes.

Three of the juveniles were arrested on the scene but another three escaped through paddocks along the highway. The remaining juveniles were arrested later that afternoon in the Woodanilling townsite after being spotted by members of the public.

All six were charged with offences including burglary and stealing a motor vehicle, relating to the alleged theft of the Ford Territory in Pingelly last Wednesday night.

Four of the juveniles were refused bail and taken to Perth to face the Children’s Court last Friday.

The police response involved officers from Cranbrook, Tambellup, Kojonup, Katanning, Dumbleyung and Wagin as well as Narrogin and Albany detectives.

Narrogin detectives also alleged the offenders were linked to another spate of burglaries in the region early on Monday last week.

Homes and businesses were targeted in burglaries throughout the region between midnight, March 31, and 6am, April 1, and one vehicle was stolen.

A business in Wandering was the first to be targeted with thieves taking cigarettes and alcohol, before three properties in Narrogin were hit and one vehicle was stolen.

That vehicle was later recovered in Brookton, after more homes and businesses were burgled in Cuballing and Pingelly. Another car stolen from a home in Brookton was later recovered in the metropolitan area.

It is understood these incidents are also connected to another crime spree which plagued the region in February and March.