Operation Light Fingers, involving officers from the Maroubra Police Station in the Eastern Suburbs, the City of Sydney, and the police area commands in Leichhardt and Sutherland, has led to the arrest of 155 individuals for shoplifting.
Among the arrested and taken to the Maroubra Police Station were a 41-year-old woman who stole $ 1,100 worth of beauty products and a 27-year-old man who stole baby formula amounting to $1,200. Both individuals targeted stores in Eastgarden and have been refused bail. The arrested man had two other outstanding warrants for shoplifting as well.
According to NSW Police, Operation Light Fingers was a three-day operation led by the Central Metropolitan High Visibility Policing (HVP) Unit, with support from the other police networks. The arrests were conducted from the 8th to the 10th of December 2022.
As of press time, 98 of the 155 individuals have been charged whilst 97 received criminal infringement notices. More operations of similar nature are expected to continue during the Christmas season. However, according to the NSW Crime Tool, incidents of theft in Maroubra and Eastgardens have been stable between October 2021 to September 2022.
It comes as the Eastern Beaches Police Area Command recently conducted a community engagement with the IWA Maroubra Community Group. The session tackled steps on how to report a crime to the police.