Police, including Operation Trinity officers, have arrested three people in a stolen vehicle in Melbourne’s southeast this morning.
Officers caught sight of a stolen grey Volkswagen Golf driving erratically and at speed in the vicinity of the Nepean Highway in Highett about 3am.
Units on the ground kept their distance as Airwing tracked the vehicle travelling through Notting Hill, Mulgrave, Huntingdale and Oakleigh.
Police successfully deployed stop sticks in the vicinity of Westall Road, Dingley Village.
The Golf continued through Dingley Village before colliding with a civilian’s vehicle near the intersection of Boundary and Centre Dandenong roads.
Three occupants from the stolen vehicle dumped the Golf and took off.
Police chased the three offenders on foot before arresting the trio nearby.
Two Dingley Village teens, age 16 and 17 and an 18-year-old from Mordialloc sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to hospital.
The driver and sole occupant of the civilian vehicle, a 50-year-old Glen Waverley woman, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators believe that the Golf was stolen from outside a gymnasium on Springvale Road, Keysborough just before 1am this morning.
Moorabbin Crime Investigation Unit detectives continue to investigate the incident.
Victoria Police has been specifically targeting burglars and car thieves each night since March 2023.
Operation Trinity, which runs from dusk until dawn across Melbourne is easily Victoria Police’s most well-resourced frontline policing operation at present.
On top of standard patrols, there are another 70 police including members of the Dog Squad, Public Order Response and Air Wing, specifically tasked with preventing and responding to burglaries and car thefts each night.
As a result of this intense focus, police arrested 673 burglars and car thieves almost 1,550 times over the past year.
A further 7,350 people have been processed for other offences detected by police working nightshift across the Trinity area of operations.
Latest police intelligence indicates that up to 80% of all aggravated burglaries in key hotspots are through unlocked doors/windows or unsuccessful attempts when the offender has discovered the property is locked.
As such, police implore the community to take simple steps such as locking all doors and windows on your home and car.
The data tells us that if you lock your doors, your chances of falling victim dramatically decrease.
