'Impossible': Candidate denies stealing rival's signs as AirTags track them near his house

Exclusive: A Victorian real estate agent who is running for his local council has denied stealing a rival candidate's election posters, despite tracking devices showing the stolen signs ending up outside his home.

The case of council capers in the City of Casey began when fellow candidate Gurpreet Gill said up to 80 of his election posters vanished.

Suspecting campaign sabotage, the businessman hatched a plan to secretly conceal Apple AirTags in his remaining posters.

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It wasn't long before two of the bugged signs were pinched, leading Gill to a home in Clyde North where campaign rival Jaz Masuta lived.

Security camera footage later obtained from the site of the theft showed one of the signs being shoved in the boot of a Mazda by the culprit.

The stolen signs then remained on Masuta's street overnight, before being moved and dumped in a field the following afternoon.

Surveillance footage uncovered by A Current Affair showed Masuta's silver Mazda leaving his home around the same time the AirTags left the area.

The footage did not capture who was behind the wheel.

That same day, what appeared to be Masuta's Mazda was captured at an intersection, a few hundred metres from where the stolen signs were abandoned.

The AirTags also pinged at the same time, near the same intersection.

Masuta, who is running in the Dillwynia ward opposite Gill, initially locked A Current Affair out of his real estate office in Cranbourne before emerging to deny the allegations.

"Impossible," he said, when shown a still of the CCTV footage.

"This is not my car, in the nighttime I am always with my kids."

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Masuta said he had "never" stolen election signs or asked anybody to remove a rival's poster.

"It's not my personality to do any of that stuff," he said.

"Someone is trying to defame."

He said it could be a "100 per cent coincidence" that the AirTags ended up outside his house.

Gill said he was not deterred by whoever was pinching his posters.

"I was disappointed at one moment, but it's actually boosted me," he said.

"Given me more energy to work harder."

Hours before A Current Affair's report on Monday, the program sent Masuta further security camera footage of the vehicle involved in the heist, which appeared to match his Mazda.

Masuta did not reply but instead urged his social media followers to not believe in "false information".

Victoria Police confirmed the thefts were under investigation.

Do you know more? Contact reporter Sam Cucchiara confidentially at scucchiara@nine.com.au