Police have recovered more than 40,000 stolen Bluey coins

Police in Australia say they have found around 40,000 limited edition coins based on the popular children’s television show Bluey.

In July it was reported that 63,000 of the coins – produced by the Australian Mint – had been stolen from a warehouse in Western Sydney, about two months before they were due to enter circulation.

Authorities recovered 40,061 coins on Tuesday after raiding a property about 10 km from the storage facility.

Earlier that day, 27-year-old Christina Vale had been arrested and charged with burglary and disposing of stolen property, police said. She was the third person arrested for the alleged theft.

The coins, worth A$1 ($0.65; 50p) each, were stolen two months before their scheduled release. New South Wales Police said yes previously sold online for ten times their face value.

Shortly after the theft was reported, NSW Police launched a special investigation into the incident codenamed Strike Force Bandit – after Bluey’s father.

In August, they arrested 44-year-old Steven Nielsen, who was an employee at the warehouse, and 44-year-old Nassar Kanj, who they say was an accomplice in the alleged robbery.

Police will now argue in court that Ms Vale was the couple’s getaway driver.

The gold-colored coins are known as Bluey dollarbucks – that’s what money is called in the cartoon – and feature images of characters from the show.

The hit series, about the Heeler dog family, was created by Brisbane-based animation company Ludo with BBC Studios and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Bluey has been a huge international success and is now broadcast in more than 60 countries, including the UK, the US and China.

The series streamed more than 20 billion minutes on Disney+ in the US last year, making it one of the country’s top 10 streaming programs for minutes watched.

There have been more than 150 episodes of Bluey across three seasons, and a Bluey-themed ‘interactive experience’ opens in Brisbane next month.

The stolen coins differ from a collectible set of Bluey currency that caused a stir when it went on sale by the Royal Australian Mint in June this year.