A spate of criminal activity descended on sleepy Foster on the weekend before Easter.

Three incidents were reported across the township, one resulting in a crashed getaway vehicle with the driver and his passengers escaping into woodland after being chased by a Foster resident woken by them “casing out” his cars.

A break in at the Foster Golf Club saw nearly $5000 worth of golfing equipment, including seven Titleist and five Wilson Staff clubs stolen. The perpetrators forced entry into the locked cart shed where club member, Rod Coughran-Lane had stored his clubs on his cart.

In another incident across town two sets of Swarovski binoculars and a Garmin SatNav were stolen from a car. Unfortunately the distracted owner had left it open earlier in the evening. 

“We're so used to our beautiful crime-free town that it was a complete surprise to find our car had been ransacked on Sunday morning”, said Ros Wathen. “We usually lock it but had forgotten this time, so there was no damage to the car, just our precious birdwatching binoculars pinched”, she added.

As to the fact Sunday 13th when the incidents occurred was a full moon, ask any police personnel and you will likely be told it’s the one night they expect an increase in call outs.  

The commonly held belief isn’t backed up by science though there is some relation as studies found, “the intensity of moonlight to have a substantive positive effect on outdoor criminal activity. As moon illumination increased, they saw an escalation in criminal activity.

Wayne Petherick, Associate professor of criminology, Bond University continued, “One explanation for this finding is what is referred to as the “illumination hypothesis” – suggesting that criminals like enough light to ply their trade, but not so much as to increase their chance of apprehension.

By the end of the week, the binoculars and golf clubs had been retrieved but each incident reinforces the fact, your treasured belongings need to be locked away at all times - in as secure a way as possible and that usually means inside the home.

The incidents come after an attempted ram raid at the Venus Bay Angling Club on April 6.

Luckily alarms seem to have warned off the raiders who, according to the club, seem to have departed in a white 4WD if the markings left on the club rooms shutters and tyre tracks are anything to go by.

“It just looked as being a wilful act of damage. There is no cash or alcohol kept on the premises so they had nothing to gain from the incident”, said club treasurer Tony Bryant.

The premises are now secure and the club is in the process of replacing the roller door. “It just makes it difficult to operate with Easter coming up when we have a lot of members partaking in the fishing competition and the Easter Egg hunt for the kids on Sunday morning” Tony concluded.

Foster police were contacted for comment on the local incidents but as of the newspaper going to press, we had not heard back from them.