Armed intruders demand money and drugs

Four armed intruders smashed their way into a Bay of Plenty house and beat a man with a metal pipe before demanding money and drugs.

The intruders threw a large potted plant through a ranch slider at the house just before 6am yesterday.

Two men asleep there were threatened by the four men who were carrying a sawn-off shotgun and a metal pipe.

Detective Sergeant Mel Ridley said the victims, aged 23 and 31, were woken and one of them was hit twice about the head with the pipe. He was not seriously injured.

The intruders, described as Maori in their late teens or early 20s, searched the property -- situated on the edge of a kiwifruit orchard -- before stealing a PlayStation, video recorder and cellphone.

They left in a vehicle but the "shattered" victims did not see what type it was, Mr Ridley said.

All four were wearing dark clothing, including hooded sweatshirts and balaclavas. One of the thieves was wearing a camouflage hooded sweatshirt.

Mr Ridley said the victims did not know their attackers.

The home invasion was the latest in a string of violent attacks in Western Bay of Plenty.

One of three men remains on the run after an alleged gunpoint kidnapping of a 53-year-old Rotorua farmer on June 28.

Police are hunting Darryl Hunt, 33, who was believed to be involved in the daytime kidnapping. The farmer managed to escape from his own car at Shell Papamoa on State Highway 2.

On June 7 two women at Seafarers Bar and Grill in Mount Maunganui were confronted by two masked men wielding a softball bat and knife. The robbers locked the women up before making off with $2 coins and a safe. The men have not been found.

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES