Five charged following high-value housebreakings across Greater Glasgow and East Renfrewshire
Five men have been arrested and charged in connection with a number of housebreakings at properties across Greater Glasgow and East Renfrewshire as part of a pro-active operation.
Operation Virion was launched in October 2021 in response to a significant number of break-ins across the country where high-value gold jewellery and cash was stolen from residential properties.
Between Tuesday, 3 January, and Saturday, 14 January, 2023, police received reports of 17 housebreakings in the Glasgow and Newton Mearns areas.
On Tuesday, 17 January, 2023, officers executed a warrant at a property in West Kilbride and five men, aged 28, 27, 26, 23 and 22, were arrested and charged in connection with the crimes and are due to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Thursday, 19 January.
Detective Inspector Gary Cassidy, from the Community Investigation Unit in Govan, said: “Whenever someone’s home is broken into, the impact on the householder, their families and the local community is significant.
“High value thefts by housebreaking targeting of domestic properties for family valuables such as jewellery and cash is not a new phenomenon. Those who commit such crimes are not bound by geographical boundaries and as such Operation Virion was set up as a co-ordinated national approach to address these types of incidents.
“The dedicated team of officers deployed to Operation Virion help ensure that Police Scotland is in a position to respond effectively to investigate any incidents which do occur anywhere in the country to bring those responsible to justice as well as working with partner agencies to prevent and minimise the risk to people in our communities.
“We are determined to disrupt the activity of individuals and groups involved in these types of incidents and will do everything in our power to bring those involved to justice.”
Those with information can contact Police Scotland via 101 or alternatively, make an anonymous report to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
