Police are urging Far Northerners to keep an eye out for tourists this summer after a series of robberies and assaults, two of them involving visitors to the Bay of Islands, on Saturday night.
The incidents included a robbery and attempted extortion of three Auckland men staying at a Paihia lodge, an assault on a group of female backpackers in Kerikeri, and the knifepoint robbery of a Paihia man who invited the wrong women home for dinner.
Sergeant Phil Le Comte said the three Auckland men were approached by three men demanding money. Two of the victims were taken back to their room, understood to be at Peppertree Lodge on Kings Rd, where an attempt was made to extort their belongings.
The third victim was robbed of his wallet, watch and car keys. Two other guests at the lodge were assaulted, one of them seriously, when they intervened and called police.
The offenders fled but police were following a number of positive lines of enquiry.