A 21-year-old Greater Dandenong man has been among 43 people charged in a major police operation targeting drivers of stolen cars in Melbourne’s north last month.
He was driving a stolen BMW that lost its tyre as a result of the degradation caused by stop sticks, police say.
The car was originally spotted in Broadmeadows at about 3.45am on 4 September, when it allegedly accelerated away from police and failed to stop.
It was tracked by the Air Wing to Keilor East where police deployed stop sticks multiple times, causing the car to eventually come to a stop.
He was charged with dangerous driving while pursued by police, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, car theft, handling stolen goods, committing an indictable offence whilst on bail and failing to stop a vehicle on police direction.
During Operation Nighthawk, 43 people were arrested and 12 stolen cars recovered over four nights.
All vehicles were believed to be “high end” and stolen from aggravated burglaries across Melbourne.
Police say they were forced to ram a car after it was allegedly driven “extremely dangerously” through the northern suburbs, with police uncovering a gun and stolen property inside the car after the driver was arrested.
Police also located four key reprogramming devices throughout the operation.
“These arrests also highlight how dynamic these situations can be for police and show the lengths offenders are willing to go to avoid apprehension,” Hume local area commander Inspector Olivia Freeman said.
“For anyone driving a stolen car dangerously – know that whether it’s on the ground, or from the sky, there’s no getting away once we have eyes on you.”
Local uniform police, detectives and Highway Patrol officers from the Hume area teamed up with the Dog Squad and Air Wing to saturate the northern suburbs in the first week of September.
Operation Nighthawk ran last month, from 31 August to 3 September, and will continue to run sporadically in the area.
