Police hands tied over stolen goods

Police are having to leave thousands of dollars worth of items they suspect are stolen at drug houses because they're unable to prove where they came from.

They're urging people to record the serial numbers of their possessions so they can easily be tracked if stolen.

Detective Sergeant Simon Irving of the Otahuhu tactical crime unit said recent search warrants had turned up electrical equipment, tools and vehicles - such as mini choppers which did not require registration - which police have had to leave behind.

"Nine times out of 10 at drug houses there is stolen property because it's used as currency.

"It just underlines the frustration of going to these addresses, seeing the stolen property and not being able to do anything about it.

"You go to the burglaries where the nice old lady from Papatoetoe has had her house broken into while she's been shopping and they've ripped her TV and ripped everything else and she doesn't have the serial number so we know there's no chance of recovering that for her."

A search warrant executed at an alleged drug house on Courtenay Cres in Mangere on Wednesday discovered two laptops, a flat-screen television which was being used as surveillance monitor and a new pneumatic pump.

Police suspected the items had been stolen but they had to leave them behind as the serial numbers did not match any of those in the system. An Xbox still in its packaging at the house was seized by police as they believed it was stolen from a nearby shop two days earlier.

A stolen Mazda Capella was also found as well as five point bags of methamphetamine, two $100 bags of cannabis and six glass pipes.

Six out of the 11 people at the address were arrested and charged with offences including possession of drug utensils, possession of methamphetamine and cannabis and wilful damage.

Warrants were already out for the arrest of some of the occupants for failing to appear in court on other charges.

And a search warrant at a house and storage unit in Mt Albert last month - executed by police who had been tipped off that the occupant was receiving stolen property - turned up 39 laptops, six flat-screen televisions, 15 cellphones, cameras, video cameras, handbags and watches.

Seventeen of the laptops had been stolen from courier DHL, which was burgled earlier this year, and one of the televisions was linked back to its owner who had recorded the serial number.

Other items at the house included a shotgun, pistol, 16 drivers' licences, 10 passports, eight credit cards and two birth certificates.

A Chinese man on an expired student visa was arrested for receiving and possession and firearms charges.

Mr Irving said burglars also often sold stolen goods to second-hand shops but if the serial numbers were in the system they would be caught out.

He said only unique items were easily traced back to their owners such as jockey Michael Walker's riding pants and saddle which turned up at a house during a search warrant. He had his car broken into in Mt Eden about four years ago.