Storage facility find yields 40,000 stolen Bluey coins

Alex Mitchell |

Police found more than 40,000 limited-edition Bluey coins when searching a self-storage facility.
Police found more than 40,000 limited-edition Bluey coins when searching a self-storage facility.

More than 40,000 limited-edition Bluey coins have been recovered from a self-storage facility after they were stolen months earlier.

Three people have been charged over the July incident, in which a 500kg pallet containing 63,000 of the coins was taken from a secure storage facility.

Police made a major breakthrough in the case on Tuesday, recovering 40,061 of the coins when searching a self-storage facility in Wentworthville, in Sydney’s west.

They had made an arrest earlier that day, charging a 27-year-old woman investigators allege drove two people to the break-in.

It  was the third arrest under Strike Force Bandit, which carries the same name as the father of the show’s titular blue heeler.

The coins vanished from a western Sydney warehouse on July 12.

They had a face value of $1, but were selling online for much more due to the immense popularity of the children’s TV cartoon.

A limited edition Bluey coin (file image)
Police say the collector’s item coins were worth $600,000 due to the cartoon’s popularity. (HANDOUT/NSW POLICE)

The collector’s item coins were selling for $10 online, leading police to estimate the haul was worth more than $600,000.

Police raided a western Sydney property on July 31 and recovered 189 of the unreleased coins, but discovered the person selling them was a legitimate coin collector who had innocently come into their possession.

Unfortunately for the collector, who police said paid about $1.50 for each coin, authorities seized his stash as proceeds of crime.

Bluey has become a global phenomenon after first airing in Australia on the ABC in 2018.

It follows the adventures of a young dog and her family living in suburban Brisbane.

AAP