Police crackdown on secondhand dealers

18.6kg of cannabis head seized during this week’s raids. Photo / Supplied

Police have seized cash, drugs, guns, electronic equipment and about $300,000 of watches in an operation targeting secondhand dealers in the Auckland Region.

Operation Castle focused particularly on the trade of stolen gold. Police said secondhand dealers had been buying stolen gold jewellery, melting it down and selling it to gold bullion dealers.

About 240 police officers executed 44 search warrants on Wednesday and Thursday following months of investigation into compliance with the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbroker's Act.

Police had concerns around the compliance of 115 of Auckland's 858 licensed secondhand dealers and 94 breaches of the Act were detected during the compliance checks.

The officer in charge of the operation, Detective Inspector Greg Cramer, said gold jewellery had been the item of choice for many burglars after its price doubled from US$600/ounce in 2007 to US$1,200/ounce in three years.

"Generally such items are relatively small, portable and they provide a high return," he said.

"When it comes to gold jewellery, it would appear that some dealers have knowingly been buying it, melting it down and on-selling to gold bullion traders, in defiance of their statutory obligations."

All dealers must be licensed to trade and must retain property they've acquired for 14 days, before they're able to on-sell.

"Traders should always question why a customer has melted gold product to sell, particularly if there's a regular supply from that customer," Mr Cramer said.

Anyone who has information about non-compliant secondhand dealers, questionable business practises or active burglars, should call their local Police or provide information anonymously to 0800 CRIMESTOPPERS - 0800 555 111.

- NZHERALD STAFF