How a fleet of cars, which were probably stolen, ended up in a stretch of remote bush near Dunedin is likely to remain a mystery.
Senior Constable Steve Tvrdeic, of Port Chalmers, visited the site yesterday with a tramper who discovered the cars and found about 10 cars dumped down a 30m bank in an abandoned quarry in the Silverpeaks Forest, about 12.5km west of Waitati.
The cars had been stripped of parts, which suggested they had been stolen, Snr Const Tvrdeic said.
‘‘There was nothing left in them internally.''
The tramper earlier gave police a number plate of one of the vehicles - a 1974 Morris saloon - which was registered to a Wanaka owner and reported stolen in 2004.
It appeared the cars had been there for some time, meaning there would be no forensic evidence left and how they got there would probably remain a mystery.
‘‘They were covered in a lot of regenerated growth.''
He managed to get the vehicle identification numbers of four of the cars and would check whether they had also been reported stolen, Snr Const Tvrdeic said.
It was not unusual to find the odd dumped car in isolated forest areas, but he had never seen so many in one place.
Nothing suspicious was found in the vehicles that were able to be reached.
The cars would be left where they were because they were so difficult to access, Snr Const Tvrdeic said.
