A man, nine teenagers, and two 12-year-old boys, were arrested over the theft of 12 vehicles in Darwin this week, NT Police said but there was a possible almost 300km police chase that ended with officers stopping one of those vehicles with tyre spikes that was not explained by the agency.

In a confusing press release on Thursday, which made it difficult understand exactly what actually happened, Detective Senior Sergeant Dale Motter-Barnard said that between Sunday and Tuesday an unspecified number of vehicles were stolen by an unspecified number of alleged offenders from two unspecified businesses in Yarrawonga, and one unspecified business in Coconut Grove.

He said that an unspecified number of alleged offenders returned to one of the businesses, which was not specified, to steal an unspecified number of vehicles.

And said that Strike Force Trident officer began investigating, with an unspecified number of stolen vehicles located abandoned around the greater Darwin area, and an unspecified number of offenders identified through CCTV vision.

Snr Sgt Motter-Barnard said that at 10am on Tuesday, Strike Force Trident and dog operations unit officers arrested a 16-year-old boy, two 17-year-old boys, and an 18-year-old man at a Darwin city home, with the group allegedly in possession of an unspecified number of stolen car keys.

Five stolen vehicles were located around Darwin city and in Winnellie, he said.

A short time later, Snr Sgt Motter-Barnard said, officers arrested a 21-year-old man, and two 14-year-old boys in a stolen vehicle, 15km outside Daly River.

He then said eight of the ten stolen vehicles had been recovered, with detectives working on locating the final two vehicles.

Three of the now specified seven alleged offenders will be dealt with under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act 2005, he said. While the remaining four were charged with multiple counts of using a motor vehicle without consent, trespass, damage to property, theft and aggravated burglary.

Snr Sgt Motter-Barnard said that in a separate incident, which he said was believed to be unrelated to “early yesterday [Wednesday] morning”, an unspecified number of unknown offenders broke into an unspecified business on Swan Crescent, Winnellie, and stole two vehicles at an unspecified time.

There was no explanation as to what was alleged to have happened early Wednesday morning.

Snr Sgt Motter-Barnard said the vehicles were allegedly involved in multiple act of dangerous driving throughout the morning in Katherine, with Strike Force Trident, dog operations, and traffic and general duties members “deployed” when the vehicle [sic] left Katherine and drove north towards Darwin.

He did not explain why two vehicles became one, and the second vehicle was never mentioned again.

It is unclear if the police chased that one vehicle from Katherine to close to Darwin, but he said officers used tyre spikes near the intersection of the Cox Peninsular Hwy [sic] and the Stuart Hwy, which is 270km from Katherine.

The car stopped soon after, he said, and all of those in the car ran into the bushland, with a 12-year-old boy, a 15-year-old girl, and a 17-year-old girl arrested after being chased by a police dog.

Snr Sgt Motter-Barnard said a 12-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy escaped but were arrested soon after.

He did not explain how they could have been unknown offenders if they were later arrested, or if there were others who have not yet been caught for stealing the second car.

The younger boy is being dealt with under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act 2005, while the four others have since been charged with multiple offences, including using a motor vehicle without consent and breaching a suspended sentence.

“These arrests were the result of a massive coordinated effort from multiple units and investigations remain ongoing as we work to locate the remaining stolen vehicles,” Snr Sgt Motter-Barnard said.