BURGLARY BOOM

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 February 1920, Page 8

BURGLARY BOOM

OPERATIONS IN SYDNEY. SYDNEY, Feb. 24. Sydney, like many another big city at the present time, is experiencing' a remarkable wave of crime. In addition to shooting's nearly every other day, thieving is going- on to a remarkable extent. There is petty thievingeverywhere—a woman in these days dare not carry her handbag carelessly or leave an unlocked shutter on an nngarded house—but, supplementing the sneak thief, some big gangs are operating. They give their attention mostly to big- business houses, and they work at nights, of course, and on holidays. The modus operandi is quite simple, and stray evidence from a great number of burglaries enables one to piece it together. While one member of the gang

loiters in the street in front, with a wary eye on the lookout for watchmen and police, the others attack a back window or door. Their methods,.if they begin work. without observation, are crude—they simply burst open the obstacle with a jemmy. They make at once for the safe or strongroom, enlarge the keyhole as much as possible, insert a quantity of gelignite, muffle the door as much as possible with anything handy, and set off the explosion. If the door is burst open they take the cash ; if not, they grab anything in sight, and decamp. The gang or gangs responsible for most of the recent burglaries are clumsy workmen, for SO per cent, of the safes they attack do not open. Either a new gang, or an old gang with new tools, has appeared now, however. On Friday night the office of a big firm of carriers in the suburb of Camperdown was entered, The safe was laid on its face, and the back of the safe was cut out by some new process. It was just as if n powerful canopener "had been used. The gang

got away with <£3o. On Sunday night, January 25th, a suburban post office was entered, but the gang failed to open the safe. On Monday the newspapers held jubilation over the- fact that the safe held a considerable sum. On the Monday night the burglars returned, successfully opened the safe, and carried off a large sum of money. There have been many burglaries, but very few arrests.