A two-day Strike Force Trident Operation has recovered 47 cars – many of which had been stolen – dumped in bushland.

Senior Sergeant Mark Stringer said it appeared the area was being used as a race track, and several vehicles had been painted with racing liveries and numbers. Some had then been burnt out and abandoned.

The dumping site – in the area around Wallaby Holtze and Thorngate Roads – was discovered by a business testing off-road vehicles early last week.

“Vehicle Identification Numbers were recovered from 21 cars, eight of which had been stolen and several others had been involved in crashes or traffic offences,” Senior Sergeant Stringer said.

“The majority of the vehicles appear to have had the Catalytic Converters removed.”

One of the vehicles recovered was reported stolen from a residence in Durack in January 2011.

The operation follows a similar exercise earlier this year, where Strike Force Trident officers – with the cooperation from the Australian Army – recovered stolen vehicles dumped in the Holtze quarry.