Police have charged a 17-year-old female youth in relation to the recovery of a large amount of stolen property during a search in Launceston yesterday.

The youth was charged with stealing offences and detained to appear in an out of hours court last night.

Police recovered property including perfumes, clothing, purses, mobile phone cases and clothing believed to be stolen property. The estimated value of the recovered property is in excess of $2,700. At this stage investigations are continuing into the source of the items.

“While police believe they know where a number of the perfumes have allegedly been stolen from, police would like to speak to any businesses who may have had unreported stealing matters, in particular involving perfumes and ladies wallets,” said Constable Benjamin Pearce-Lieutier.

“Shop stealing is a serious matter which costs businesses considerable amounts of money every year.

“This arrest and the recovery of stolen property is a result of good police work by the new Launceston Police Shop Stealing Task Force.”

Anyone with information that may assist police to identify any people stealing from shops, the lawful owners of property or where stolen property can be found, can report the information to Tasmania Police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000 or online at crimestopperstas.com.au.

The recovery of this property is NOT linked to a matter on the weekend in which over $4,500 of stolen property was recovered in the city.