A vehicle was abandoned outside Clive Four Square after a break-in by suspected youths on Thursday morning.
A vehicle was abandoned outside Clive Four Square after a break-in by suspected youths on Thursday morning.
A convenience store was burgled by a group overnight Wednesday, the latest in a holiday spike of suspected youth crime in the region.
A window was smashed and police tape was placed around a section of Clive Four Square on Thursday morning, with a car suspected to have been used in the burglary left abandoned outside.
A police spokeswoman said police had received a report of a burglary at the store on State Highway 51, Clive, about 2.20am.
“A vehicle was located at the premises, however, it appears that it was not used to gain entry. It appears that a group of youths took cash and food items. Enquiries are ongoing to locate the offenders.”
Emergency services were also kept busy responding to several suspicious fires in Napier and Hastings, with youths being treated as suspects in at least two of them.
Police and firefighters were also called to a fire in a toilet block at the old Rush Munro’s Ice Creamery site in Heretaunga St West about 4pm on Wednesday.
Video from the scene showed the block’s roof engulfed in flames as onlookers on the busy street watched the blaze.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokeswoman said they had received several calls as the fire spread through the building, but it had been quickly dampened down once firefighters arrived.
A police spokeswoman said they helped provide traffic control as the fire was contained.
Police and firefighters investigate a suspicious blaze in a toilet block at the old Rush Munro's site in Heretaunga St West on Wednesday. Photo / Paul Taylor
The Rush Munro’s facility, which was on the same Heretaunga St West site for 90 years, is in the process of being demolished for the construction of a new petrol station, a move that sparked significant backlash in the community in 2022.
The beloved business has been operating out of a temporary container site in Albert Square this summer.
Two hours later, emergency services were called to Te Awa School in Napier, where a group of roughly 10 youths were reported to have been lighting a fire on the playground.
A police spokeswoman said the fire was not large, but on arrival they also encountered a mattress on fire in a nearby Seddon Cres alleyway.
Inquiries were continuing into both fires, but police suspected they were related, she said.
On Wednesday, Hawke’s Bay Police said they had taken five youths in a stolen vehicle into custody amid a spree of vehicle thefts in the region.
A police spokesperson said a number of cars had been stolen in Napier, Hastings, and Havelock North over the New Year. These were all being investigated, including whether the thefts were linked.
