A group were smashing glass cabinets before fleeing in two vehicles. Photo / Supplied
An east Auckland jewellery store is the latest retailer to be hit by robbers as a spate of heists, burglaries and ram raids plague the city.
Police received multiple reports of a group of robbers, armed with tools, smashing glass cabinets at Michael Hill Jewellers in the Botany Town Centre around 5.40pm yesterday.
A police spokesperson confirmed they took multiple items from the store before fleeing in two vehicles.
Both vehicles were found abandoned a short distance away.
Inquiries into the robbery are ongoing, and police are asking those with footage or information to contact them on 105 phone service or online using the Update My Report feature, quoting the reference file number 220718/6724.
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
Yesterday's aggravated robbery comes after a number of Michael Hill stores have been targeted over the past month.
Last Monday, shoppers at LynnMall in New Lynn were left terrified after up to a dozen people attempted to break into Michael Hill.
Eyewitnesses told the Herald the perpetrators were armed with large hammers, crowbars and sticks.
They fled the scene after realising they could not break into the store.
On a separate occasion, shoppers were also left shocked when robbers shattered glass cabinets at Michael Hill in the Newmarket Westfield mall.
Police said at the time the offenders left the scene in a silver Mazda Atenza, which was found abandoned in Almorah Place a short time later.
And last month a Michael Hill store on the corner of Hurstmere and Lake Rds in Takapuna was the target of a daytime robbery.
Police later arrested a 20-year-old man and charged him with receiving stolen property.
Some of the goods were returned to the store.
Just last week jewellery stores in Saint Johns and Grey Lynn were also targeted.
Two men armed with a gun and a hammer entered the Saint Johns shop just before 1pm last Wednesday.
They used the gun to make threats toward staff members before smashing the counters with the hammer. The gun was not fired, police said.
Both men then fled the scene in a vehicle.
On the same day and across town, four people entered Diamonds on Richmond in Grey Lynn with weapons just after 4.45pm, using them to smash the glass counters to retrieve the jewellery.
The thieves left in a car which was later located abandoned on Farrar St.
Stolen items were located inside the vehicle.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.