Bell heist: Where police found the stolen Phillip Island harmony bells

A set of four brass harmony bells stolen from Phillip Island last month have been discovered in a shipping container bound for China.

The bells were stolen from the Cowes Town Square, where they’d been installed at a cost of about $52,000 in 2012.

General Manager of the Phillip Island Regional Tourism Board, Kim Storey, says they’d been sold to a scrap dealer.

“They were actually found in a container getting ready to be shipped to China,” she told Neil Mitchell.

The bells are back in the possession of the Bass Coast Shire Council, but they’ve been damaged.

“They’re not in great condition but they (the council) will be looking at how they can be resurrected,” Ms Storey said.

“A lot of the artwork and decorative parts of the bells have been removed.”

Press PLAY below to hear about the bell heist + a Bass Coast Shire bid for more government funding to boost domestic tourism

Image: Bass Coast Shire Council / Facebook