General News
5 May, 2026
Crackdown on crime
IN its first two months of operation the Tablelands Property Crime Unit has already charged over 100 people with more than 330 offences, including a man involved in another armed robbery.
A 24-year-old Mareeba man has been arrested over an armed robbery in Dimbulah on 22 April – the third of the same offence in the period of about one month, with other incidents also having occurred in Mareeba and Atherton.
It will be alleged the man entered a Raleigh Street property at around 8.40pm and threatened the occupant with a knife before stealing a white Holden Cruze. No one was physically injured and the pair were known to each other.
The man was charged with two counts of stealing and one count each of armed robbery and enter with intent. He was remanded in custody and is due to appear in the Mareeba Magistrates Court on 29 June.
Police are calling for anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage, or anyone who witnessed a white 2012 Holden Cruze sedan (registration 375PS9) driving between, or in, Mareeba and Dimbulah between 8pm on 22 April and 10am on 23 April, to come forward.
The Tablelands Property Crime Unit has now arrested 102 people with 331 offences since its inception at the end of February. These figures show the Unit has maintained its pace from its first month, where it charged 52 people – including 30 youths – with a total of 165 offences.
The recent crime crackdown has come off the back of Operation Yankee Forge – a six-month, district-led, statewide initiative targeting high-harm and high-volume offences, with a focus on unlawful use of motor vehicles, unlawful entry, and robbery.
Police regions, supported by specialist squads, have been undertaking coordinated disruption activities across the state, with police targeting these high-harm offenders and working closely with partner agencies to ensure offenders are held accountable.
Far North District Superintendent Mick Searle said local police are continuing to put pressure on repeat offenders causing harm in the community.
“The benefit of a locally led operation like Operation Yankee Forge, and the creation of the Tablelands Property Crime Unit, means we can use more effective, intelligence-driven strategies to target those high harm offenders, take them into custody, and put them before court,” he said.
“We have some of the best police officers in the state working together in the air, on the streets and behind the scenes, to disrupt this illegal and dangerous property offending before harm is brought to the community.”
