Valuable opals stolen from Coober Pedy store, spark police warning on online marketplaces

Unique and valuable opals valued in the thousands of dollars have been stolen from a Coober Pedy store, sparking a warning from local police about online onsales.

South Australian police from the Far North Local Service Area were alerted to the smash and grab, which happened at an opal store in Hutchinson Street between 6pm on Tuesday, April 11 and 8am the following day.

Detective Sergeant Kelly Lavington said the value of the stolen opals could not be determined, but was speculated to be in the thousands of dollars.

"The glass front doors were smashed open and numerous items were stolen including a unique 23-carat multicoloured free-formed teardrop opal," Detective Sergeant Lavington said.

"Other items stolen included a unique decorative fish opal, a dragon opal, and also a quantity of white cut and polished opals."

Due to the unique nature of the stolen opals, Detective Sergeant Lavington warned people to keep an eye out for similar-looking gemstones.

"We'd definitely like to hear from anyone who sees opals being sold that might be suspicious or might sound similar to what I've just talked about today," she said.

A man has been arrested for the theft, but police require the public's help to locate the stolen goods.

While responding to the call-out about the stolen opals, local police arrested a man allegedly found with a cache of weapons and drugs.

On April 13, police stopped a car on the Stuart Highway about 60 kilometres south of Coober Pedy.

"The vehicle looked like it had some maintenance troubles, and we had cause to pull the vehicle over and stop it," Detective Sergeant Lavington said.

"When police searched the vehicle, we located approximately 1.5kg of cannabis, which was packaged in plastic bags; six grams of methamphetamine; and 50ml of fantasy.

"We also found a large flip knife he was carrying and some homemade knuckle dusters."

A 23-year-old local man was arrested and charged with three counts of trafficking in a controlled drug, one count of carrying an offensive weapon, and one count of possessing a prohibited weapon.

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