Toner theft leaves a black mark

In a colourful crime, police charge an Erskineville man with stealing 23,000 printer toner cartridges worth $2.4 million.

The Homebush Bay-based print company informed the police of its findings from an internal investigation. It is alleged that a 35-year-old man stole and on-sold thousands of toner cartridges to printers over his past six years of employment.

Investigators from Flemington Local Area Command have already charged the man with larceny for this year’s haul, a total of 5,000 cartridges. Granted bail, he will appear Burwood Local Court on 6 October to face the music.

A police search of the man’s unit on Eve Street at Erskineville revealed 313 stolen toner cartridges. Ongoing investigations will examine the ink caper, as it is doubtful from the scale of the theft that it man acted alone.

The brazen theft could occur because of the prevalence of unbranded toner in the industry. The market for dodgy toner is growing with imports for all major brands flooding in from China.

It will be interesting to see how this case develops, as over two million dollars worth of stock vanishing from a storeroom highlights at least shoddy security and stockkeeping. Whatever happens some Sydney printers are going to be paying a lot more for their toner cartridges from now on.