Albany police on the hunt for petty garden thief after plants, statues and lattices disappear from backyards

Albany police are on the hunt for a suspected plant thief after plants, lattices and statues disappeared from gardens around the city this month.

Albany officer-in-charge Sen. Sgt Carlos Correia said police had received reports of 10 separate garden thefts between February 11 and 24.

Plants were stolen from 10 residential properties, predominantly in Gledhow and McKail, but more recently also in Orana and Lockyer.

Sen. Sgt Correia noted that the stolen plants were planted and growing in garden beds, some of them for years, instead of in pots.

Stolen plants include grass plants, dwarf nandina plants, lilly pilly’s, African box hedges and Australia red star trees.

Two statues, both measuring about 30cm tall and depicting boys holding a lamp and a bird basket, were also taken.

The thefts mainly occurred after dark, according to Sen. Sgt Correia, just after nightfall or in the early hours of the morning.

He encouraged any members of the community who had footage or any information to contact Albany police and urged members of the public to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity in their neighbourhoods.

Sen. Sgt Correia said although stealing plants may not seem on the highest end of seriousness for stealing offences, the action was still unlawful and stressed that stealing charges could carry high consequences including jail.

“Stealing out of people’s garden is still theft, it’s still against the law,” he said.

“The fact is, if people spend their hard-earned money buying plants and statues and tending to their gardens, they have a right to do that without someone coming in and stealing out of their backyards.

“These kind of offences are just insensitive, and they cause problems for the community, so we’re absolutely going to follow them up and any information or footage we can get is going to hopefully help us find out who’s doing this.”