Three teenagers arrested over alleged burglary spree in Melbourne

In short:

Three teenage boys have been arrested over a series of alleged aggravated burglaries and thefts in Melbourne's north-eastern suburbs early Friday.

It comes as youth crime becomes a hot-button topic ahead of Victoria's November state election.

What's next?

The trio were remanded to appear before a children’s court today.

Three teenage boys have been arrested following an alleged crime spree in Melbourne's north-eastern suburbs yesterday morning.

A 17-year-old from the Greater Shepparton area, and a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old, both from the Manningham area, were arrested by detectives at an address in Darebin.

The 17-year-old from the Greater Shepparton area was charged with four counts of aggravated burglary, two counts of burglary, an attempted theft from a motor vehicle, among other charges.

The 15-year-old and the 17-year-old from Manningham were both charged with four counts of aggravated burglary, attempted theft from a motor vehicle and theft of a motor vehicle, among other charges.

Victoria Police said the charges followed several alleged incidents in the early hours of August 28, including two separate aggravated burglaries in Balwyn North; an attempted theft from a motor vehicle in Templestowe; and aggravated burglaries in Bulleen and Templestowe.

The trio were remanded to appear before a children's court today.

It comes as crime, particularly youth crime, dominates debate between the Labor government and Coalition opposition ahead of Victoria's November state election.

Stepping into the top job after Jacinta Allan was ousted in late July, Premier Ben Carroll vowed to "continue the same hardline approach to tackling crime."

Last month, the Coalition pledged to add new offences to the state's Adult Crime, Adult Time laws if elected, including car theft and attempted carjacking.

According to the most recent statistics, youth crime fell last year in Victoria for the first time in four years, but adult crime rose by more than 10 per cent over the same time frame.

The Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) released its figures for the 12 months to March 2026, showing Victoria's overall crime rate fell by just under 2 per cent.

The CSA said the figures showed youth crime falling for the first time since the COVID pandemic.

There were 22,654 alleged offences involving young people, which was a fall of 6 per cent on the previous year.

However, adult crime rose by 10 per cent, which the CSA attributed to increases in breaches of bail, retail theft and breaches of family violence orders.