Stolen cars found dumped near Waitati

Senior Constable Steve Tvrdeic, of Port Chalmers, visited the site today with a tramper who discovered the vehicles. Photo / File

How a fleet of likely stolen cars ended up in a stretch of remote bush near Dunedin is likely to remain a mystery.

Senior Constable Steve Tvrdeic, of Port Chalmers, visited the site today with a tramper who discovered the vehicles.

They found about 10 cars dumped down a 30-metre bank in a quarry in the Silverpeaks Forest, about 12.5km west of Waitati.

The cars had been stripped of parts which suggested they had been stolen, Snr Const Tvrdeic said.

"There was nothing left in them internally.''

The tramper earlier gave police a number plate of one of the vehicles - a 1974 Morris saloon - which was registered to a Wanaka owner and reported stolen in 2004.

It looked as though the cars had been there for some time, meaning there would be no forensic evidence left and how they got there would most likely remain a mystery.

"They were covered in a lot of regenerated growth.''

Snr Const Tvrdeic managed to get the vehicle identification numbers for four of the cars and would check whether those had also been reported stolen.

It was not unusual to find the odd dumped car in isolated forest areas, but he had never seen so many in one place.

Nothing suspicious was found in the vehicles they were able to be reach.

The cars would be left where they were because the area was so difficult to get to.