RNC officers hit the jackpot of stolen goods on Friday.
Police raided a home on Campbell Avenue in St. John’s on a drug warrant and, in addition to finding drugs, recovered hundreds of stolen items.
RNC Const. Suzanne FitzGerald told reporters on Saturday that it was one of the biggest hauls of stolen goods police have seen a quite a while.
“I think this is not only very unique in terms of the quantity that has been seized but also the diversity of what has been seized as well,” said FitzGerald.
Some of the more unique items include a gold plated socket wrench set, a framed Wayne Gretzky card, ivory handled knives that look like dueling pistols, boxes of old sports cards and other memorabilia and 14 samurai swords.
There are also bags of jewelry, at least 50 rings, bags of rare coins, video games, chainsaws, computers and electronics, appliances and power tools.
Whenever officers conduct a search warrant for narcotics it is normal to find stolen property, it is often traded for drugs, but the sheer amount of property recovered from this home was surprising, said FitzGerald.
“It was not something that the investigating officers expected to see in a home in this quantity. Generally … when you do an actual warrant … for a search you will find a quantity of stolen property but nothing near to what they’ve uncovered here today,” she said.
In addition to the drug investigation they started out with, the RNC has now opened a separate investigation into the stolen property.
The RNC is still going through all the items and will be cataloging each in an effort to find the owners. Anyone who suspects they may own some of these items can contact RNC at 709-729-8000.
In relation to the drug raid, RNC have charged a 42-year-old St. John’s man with possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
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