Thousands of dollars of cigarettes stolen in raids

Bay of Plenty Times

13 Oct, 2015 08:45 PM2 mins to read

BP Connect Te Puna, Mount Maunganui New World, and Gate Pa New World, were raided by thieves who stole cigarettes on Friday and Saturday mornings.

Thieves have stolen several thousand dollars worth of cigarettes in a crime spree which spanned two nights and included three separate raids around Tauranga.

The cigarettes were stolen from New World Gate Pa, BP Connect Te Puna and New World Mount Maunganui.

New World Gate Pa was the first to be targeted at 3.20am last Friday. On the same morning, BP Connect in Te Puna was targeted. New World in Mount Maunganui was burgled the following day at 3.45am.

A stolen white Subaru Impreza believed to be linked to the burglaries was found abandoned on Puriri St in Mount Maunganui the morning of the third raid.

New World Mount Maunganui owner Allan Rudkin said he was gutted by the incident.

"They come in here, they destroy our property and, by the looks of it, they do it around the community," he said. "Our customers are the ones who miss out and our staff are the ones who miss out because all they're doing is taking our funds away."

Mr Rudkin said the premises had alarms and security guards checked the grounds throughout the night but the theft had affected the community.

"It's a tight-knit community here ... and the people and staff see what's gone on and the staff are the ones who have to work in that environment."

Antoinette Laird, corporate public relations director for Foodstuffs New Zealand, said in a statement: "We can confirm that there was a robbery at New World Gate Pa. While the police are investigating, we cannot comment further."

Senior Sergeant Rob Glencross said it was too early to say whether or not the burglaries where gang-related, part of an organised crime ring or carried out by an individual.

He said cigarettes would have been stolen because they were a "very tradeable commodity".

He refused to reveal more about the robberies or speculate on how fast the thieves would have managed to get in and out but said police were seeking help from the public.