Australian police recover 40,000 stolen 'Bluey' coins

SYDNEY — Australian police said on Wednesday they had recovered more than 40,000 stolen limited-edition coins based on the hit children's animated series ''Bluey.''

The Bluey coins, with a face value of one Australian dollar (65 U.S. cents) each, were found on Tuesday afternoon in a self-storage business in the Sydney suburb of Wentworthville, a police statement said.

Bluey is the name of a blue heeler puppy whose adventures with her cattle dog family living in the Australian city of Brisbane, where the series is produced, have become popular among children around the globe.

The series premiered in Australia in 2018 and began streaming on Disney+ in 2020.

The 40,061 recovered coins were still in the Royal Australian Mint plastic bags that they had been stolen in three months earlier, police said.

Police were notified on July 12 that 63,000 of the yet-to-be-released series of coins produced by the national mint in Canberra had been stolen from a warehouse in the Sydney suburb of Wetherill Park, not far from where the coins were recovered on Tuesday.

Police formed Strike Force Bandit to investigate. Bandit is the name of Bluey's dad.

Three people have been charged over the theft.

A 27-year-old woman whom police allege drove two accomplices to the July burglary was arrested on Tuesday hours before the coins were recovered.

Two men had earlier been charged over the theft and police were a searching for a fourth suspect.

Police raided a Sydney property on July 31 and recovered 189 of the coins. They discovered the dealer selling them was a legitimate coin collector who had innocently bought them for AU$1.50 (98 U.S. cents) each. He was paid no compensation for the seized coins.

A Royal Australian Mint spokesperson was not available for comment on Wednesday.