Stolen HP printer consignment recovered in Sydney bush

Authorities are seeking the rightful owners of some 100 HP laser printers recovered from Sydney bushland this morning after being stolen last night from Chullora railyard while in transit.

Chief inspector Michael Taylor, a detective at Auburn Police, told CRN this morning, 13 October, that although suspects had been apprehended, police had not yet found out which container had been transporting the HP printers at the time of the theft.

The printers were presumably in transit from a vendor to a reseller, or a distributor to a reseller, but it was not known at the time of writing who the parties were, he said.

"It's terrible. We have people down there wasting their time. We are trying to find the owners. We don't even yet know which container they were on," chief inspector Taylor said.

Rail staff "were not being obstructionist", he said, but further details were so far unavailable.

A Rail Corporation spokesman told CRN that the container involved was probably being transported by Q-Link, an 150-year-old freight company based in Queensland and one of the largest in Australia.

A spokesman for Q-Link in NSW said the freight forwarders had no further information. He could not confirm whether it was in fact Q-Link's container that had been transporting the printers.

"The first we heard of it was when somebody just came in and one of the [train] drivers told us about it. None of us knew anything about it," he said.

The first he had heard of the theft was when it was reported on the radio, he added.

The total value of the stolen printers has been estimated at around $100,000. However, Auburn police said that no-one could be certain exactly how much the printers were worth as it was not yet known exactly how many had actually been stolen.

NSW police's media unit told CRN that Auburn police were called to Chullora railyard, on Waroona Road, at 11pm on Tuesday night, 12 October, after someone called the station with a report of people "acting suspiciously".

Police and dog squad officers began searching the area, flushing out and chasing four people who were later apprehended as suspects.

Police cordoned off the area and recovered about 100 HP printers in bushland adjacent to Chullora railyard this morning. The investigation was continuing at the time of writing.

Anyone with information about the theft is urged to call Auburn police or Crime Stoppers as soon as possible.