Busy time for burglars, but police in hot pursuit

The burglar who targeted outdoor sports goods had been arrested, and so had the man who stole the jetski. Photo / File

Thieves have hit the Onekawa and Pandora industrial areas hard during the past two months, targeting everything from scrap, batteries, and a jetski, to laptops and frozen fish.

"A couple of hefty months on the burglary front," was how the areas' Community Constable Mike Burne described May and June.

Seventeen burglaries were reported across both patches, compared to five in April last year and two in May 2014. "I haven't seen commercial burglary in these sorts of numbers since I took over as community constable [in 2008]."

Batteries and scrap continued to be targeted, Mr Burne pointing out that it was not just the scrap the raiders were after when they went on a property.

"If thieves come for your scrap they'll also have a look around to see what else you've got."

He said while police were fortunate in having a good relationship with scrap dealers thieves would often get other people to sell it on their behalf, or take it outside the region for sale.

Contractors working at the Parklands development discovered for themselves that batteries were a hot item for thieves.

Ten were taken from machines working at the site.

Without identifying marks they would be nearly impossible to recover, Mr Burne said.

Six people working at a Mersey St business were victims of a "stair dancer".

The thief entered the processing plant during a night shift and went to the unattended smoko room where their bags had been left.

A wide range of personal items disappeared along with the bags.

In other reports, two laptop computers were stolen after a break-in at a Leyland St firm; outdoor sporting equipment was stolen from a Prebensen Drive business; a fish coolstore in Dunlop Rd was broken into and frozen fish taken; a jetski was stolen from a property in Pandora; a motorcycle was taken from a shed in Niven St (later recovered) and copper stolen from an Austin St address - later turning up at a Hastings scrap metal yard.

Mr Burne said there had been some successful resolutions.

He said the burglar who targeted outdoor sports goods had been arrested, and so had the man who stole the jetski.

As well, two young men who had been responsible for several burglaries and thefts had also been arrested and were being held in custody.

And the thief who stole the copper had also been caught and arrested, he said.