A man has been arrested and charged in connection with the theft of 63,000 limited edition coins, valued at more than £300,000. The coins, based on the popular Australian children's TV show Bluey, were stolen from a warehouse in western Sydney. The suspect, Steven John Neilson, 47, faces three counts of breaking and entering.
The coins, gold in color and worth one Australian dollar each, were produced by the Royal Australian Mint and are legal tender in Australia. These are similar to regular Australian dollar coins, but feature an image of the main character from the TV show. These coins, known as Bluey dollarbucks, have sold for up to 10 times their face value online.
Neilson worked at the warehouse in the Sydney suburb of Wetherill Park, where the coins were stored for two days before being transported to Brisbane. He, along with two other men, are accused of stealing the 500kg haul from the back of a lorry in June and selling it on the internet within hours.
In a raid on a house in the city the same month, police were able to recover 189 of the coins. However, only 1,000 of the coins have been accounted for, and most are now believed to be in circulation. Neilson was arrested at a home in Sydney on Wednesday.
The New South Wales Robbery and Serious Crime Squad named their investigative unit Strike Force Bandit, after Bluey's father on the show. Detective Superintendent Joseph Doueihi expressed that the theft has deprived many young children and members of the community of these coins, and efforts are underway to recover them and put them back into circulation.
The Australian animated show, aimed at children but also popular with adults, was one of the most-watched TV shows in the US last year. It is ranked as the 14th highest rated show of all time, according to IMDB. The police have clarified that whoever received one of the stolen coins must not return it.
the mail Man accused of stealing $300,000 worth of Bluey coins from Sydney warehouse appeared first NewsGPT.ai.
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