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Man arrested, charged with theft of 800 military medals worth $256,000
News from NZ Police
A 57-year-old man is appearing in court in Wellington this afternoon accused of the theft of more than 800 military medals from the Waiouru National Army Museum.
His arrest follows an investigation by Central District Police for over a year. This included extensive enquiries in New Zealand and overseas and the execution of warrants in Australia in July with the assistance of the Australian Federal Police.
The man who lives in Queensland was spoken to by Police in Australia in July and he voluntarily flew to New Zealand this afternoon. He has been arrested at Wellington Airport and transported to Wellington District Court for an appearance this afternoon.
The man is charged with the theft of 395 medal groups comprising 843 individual medals, obtaining property by deception, false accounting and unlawfully exporting New Zealand antiquities. To date 300 individual medals have been recovered including service medals, campaign medals and some gallantry medals. The estimated value of the 843 medals stolen is $256,000.
Police are unable to comment on the identity of the man or the detail of the thefts, as to do so would prejudice the court case. Detective Senior Sergeant Keith Borrell, who led the investigation, said: “I can confirm that the investigation extended beyond the original complaint of theft that was received in June last year. The thefts are believed to have taken place between 1995 and 2002, they are not linked to previous incidents of theft at the museum and do not involve anyone currently employed by the museum.
“I would like to express my gratitude to the New Zealand Army and the Australian Federal Police for the support and cooperation they have provided throughout the investigation.”
Photo at top: one of the sets of medals.
Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz
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The above report is not the first incident in New Zealand where ‘genuine’ supposed war medal/memorabilia collectors have stolen from innocent Kiwi families. A family in Thames had the same happen to them in 2007. The Waikato Times and TV1 News conducted an investigation to no avail. A British collector/dealer who was a member of the Thames RSA had “volunteered” his services to treat borer on a case in which War medals had been placed to be protected; subsequently the medals were never returned. Some time later the Thames RSA went into receivership and the British collector stated that the said items were sold to cover the debt of the Thames RSA. On pursuing the matter, the family from Waikato were refused any further information by the British medal collector who tried to deny any responsibility, blaming the Thames RSA. A Thames local put the family on to an accountant who had dealt with the auction of items from the RSA, but he refused to provide details. Other Thames locals have stated the missing items never went to auction and were never on the auction list.
It is sad how fraudsters take advantage of innocent Kiwi families stealing not only part of the family’s heritage but also part of New Zealand’s heritage to either keep in their ‘own’ private collection or to sell to unsuspecting collectors abroad. The Waikato family now intend to create their own website to try and locate the items before placing them on display at the Waiouru Army Museum.