An Australia Post facility in Rockhampton, Queensland was ransacked by a group of men who disguised themselves as employees, police say. Image source: EurovisionNim, CC BY-SA 4.0.
An Australia Post mail distribution facility in the regional town of Rockhampton, Queensland was ransacked by a group of men who disguised themselves as employees, police say.
Police are searching for the five or six men who dressed as Australia Post workers in order to steal packages from the facility.
Reports say the group arrived on Saturday morning and robbed the facility over the course of 13 hours, before leaving the scene in an Australia Post delivery van.
Rockhampton police officer Kevin Mawdsley said the alleged were dressed in high-visibility clothing to avoid suspicion from onlookers.
“If a passer-by did happen to see someone, our view is that it wouldn’t have appeared unusual to anyone,” Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Kevin Mawdsley said.
“They appeared to disguise themselves as employees and were wearing high-visibility clothing, as a means to not draw attention to themselves.”
The van was found burnt out on a street at around 11:30pm in Parkhurst, just 12km north of the facility.
“Its certainly very brazen and a degree of planning has been involved here, so we believe people will obviously know who these offenders are,” Sergeant Mawdsley said.
The distribution centre in Rockhampton serves the entire Capricornia region, including Yeppoon and extending west to Winton.
It’s unclear exactly how many parcels were stolen in the robbery, but Mawdsley stated that there are “hundreds, potentially thousands” of victims affected by the crime.
“It’s very difficult at this point in time for Australia Post to give us information on exactly how many parcels or items of property have been stolen or tampered with,” he said.
“But we’re working closely with them to try and identify that.”
Currently, two arrests have been made in relation to the incident.
One 34-year old man has been charged with one count of enter premises and will appear at court on March 27.
Another, aged 47, was charged with one count each of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, enter premiss and unrelated drug charges and will appear in court today.
Investigation into in the incident are ongoing.
