Northern Territory Police have established Operation Tarn to target anti-social behaviour and associated crime, which police have directly attributed to a small cohort of people from Wadeye.
Recent unrest in the remote community has resulted in a number of community members being displaced into the greater Darwin area. Some of these people have been responsible for an increase in crime and anti-social behaviour.
NT Police are working with other government and non-government agencies to enhance community safety by preventing and reducing crime and anti-social behaviour committed by those displaced persons.
As part of the operation, police yesterday arrested a 24-year-old man from Wadeye following the theft of items from a hardware business at Coconut Grove on Monday.
The man pushed past the store manager and was seen leaving the store with an axe.
Later that day another unidentified male did the same thing, this time threatening a male staff member if he tried to intervene.
A review of CCTV footage from the previous two days showed youths and adult males stealing axes from the store.
Two youths, aged 14 and 13, were arrested.
Operation Tarn members attended a location in Ludmilla and located a hammer and two axes, all believed to be stolen from the store.
Investigations are continuing, to identify the other offenders.
NT Police will be providing more information about our activities at a series of displays over the next three weeks.
We encourage our community to talk to us about what we are doing to prevent crime and how the community can assist. We will have an interactive display where the public can view persons of interest with the intent to assist in identifying them. NT Police and Neighbourhood Watch will be at the following shopping centres where we will provide safety hints which will include a Crime Stoppers display:
Casuarina Shopping Centre
Thursday 27 October 2022
Friday 28 October 2022
Saturday 29 October 2022
Gateway Shopping Centre
Thursday 3 November 2022
Friday 4 November 2022
Saturday 5 November 2022
Coolalinga Central
Thursday 10 November 2022
Friday 11 November 2022
Saturday 12 November 2022.
If members of the public have information about crime, they are urged to call police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report anonymously online at crimestoppers.com.au.
