Bay of Plenty dragon boat club’s stolen gear returned

From left: BOP Dragon Flyers coach Steph Mott, crew member Dave Horgan and team manager Angie Lind. Photo / Debbie Griffiths

The Bay of Plenty Dragon Flyers have some great news.

Their paddles and some personal items stolen over the weekend have now been recovered by police.

“We are stoked to share that all of our BOP Dragon Flyers paddles, as well as our friend’s personal waka and DB paddles, were retrieved by the police,” a team spokesperson said today.

“A fair amount of kit and and gear is still missing but this is a win after a devastating couple of days.”

Bay of Plenty Dragon Boat Club president Brooke Hargreaves said she had a message from one of the paddlers to say police had recovered the paddles.

Two of the stolen paddles. Photo / Supplied

“A little bit later, they had recovered a ... phone and an iPad.

“There’s still a bit of gear they’re trying to recover.

“The police have done an epic job.”

On the team’s Facebook page, team manager Angie Lind said all the paddles had been recovered and one of their waka family in the police was notified straight away.

“Although we don’t have all our items back, we at least have our paddles back.

“A huge mihi to all of our friends and family and everyone in our wider DB and waka communities for all the support.

“We are truly humbled and it makes me very proud to be associated with such amazing people,” Lind said.

SunLive has asked police for comment.

- SunLive