Kaitaia is under seige from bands of young burglars running rampant breaking into business premises on the town's main street, a business owner says.
Restaurants, service stations and motels on Commerce St have been repeatedly targeted since the New Year, with thieves smashing windows to enter and make off with loot like tobacco, liquor and other goods - even a 50-inch TV was walked down the road from a motel by the bold robbers.
The latest robbery was at the Orana Motor Inn, where burglars broke a front window to enter and steal liquor at 1am on Saturday.
Inn co-owner Chris Aitken kept watch and scared off two people who returned at 3.35am. The pair fled on foot. After putting plywood over the broken window, Mr Aitken thought the intruders would not be back.
But when he woke at 2.30am on Sunday and looked out of his upstairs bedroom window he spotted someone wearing a hoodie lurking in an area between the inn and a church next door.