A major police operation to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of stolen property is under way in the Far North following a ram raid at a Bay of Islands quarry.
The branch manager of Broadspectrum's Puketona Quarry, Mike Grimshaw, said the offenders had driven through one fence then cut their way through a second on Saturday night.
They had then taken an estimated $250,000 worth of road-contracting machinery and broken into the site office as well as three utes parked at the quarry.
![Broadspectrum's quarry on Puketona Rd is one of the biggest in the Far North. Photo / Peter de Graaf](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/OJCDQQ25J42HN3GIZB76OF2E2Y.jpg?auth=9ded050b6221b0efa400bdfd52a93dd33e2ceb6ef805a00370a8b237251507b1&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
Staff had been working at the yard, on Puketona Rd near Paihia, on Saturday afternoon and secured it before going home.