KEY POINTS:
Police are investigating the possibility that a gang of bag-snatchers is operating in Auckland, with 20 mostly Asian women targeted in the city recently.
Officers are calling for public vigilance as they look into the latest ring of thieves who are watching and then carefully selecting lone women as they leave cash machines and mall carparks.
Sergeant Todd Bartlett of the Waitemata law enforcement team told the Herald that "in excess of 20" women had reported handbag thefts in the Waitemata police district alone.
But police are also collating details of similar crimes in the Auckland City and Counties Manukau districts which they believe could be connected.
Mr Bartlett said that in one case a woman was injured, suffering grazes and scrapes after being towed along by a car in a West Auckland carpark.
"A car drove past her and grabbed her handbag while it was still on her shoulder," he said.
While that was the only case he knew of that had resulted in injury, Mr Bartlett said the string of snatchings was worrying because of the potential risk to victims.
"There's always potential for somebody to be injured when somebody's going to try and take their property. We're definitely concerned and it's been given a high priority."
Mr Bartlett said in many cases Asian women were targeted, something noted in other high-profile bag snatching incidents around Auckland, as offenders believed they had more money than Europeans.
Mr Bartlett was reluctant to reveal why police believed the incidents were linked or details of how the thieves were working. However, he said the offenders were working in groups.
Most of the incidents occurred as women left cash machines or mall car parks. In some cases, a car had stopped behind the victim's car, blocking them in their park, Mr Bartlett said.
As the women put shopping or groceries into her back seat or boot, the thief simply opened the passenger's side door and took the handbag, many of which had been left on the passenger's seat or floor.
Several high-profile handbag snatching gangs have been busted in Auckland in recent memory, including one on the North Shore last year in which six women were arrested on about 200 charges involving 96 victims, most of whom were elderly women.
* Anyone with information on the thefts can contact Sergeant Todd Bartlett on (09) 481 0359.
MINIMISING HARM
* Shop in pairs if possible.
* Refrain from openly carrying a purse or wallet.
* Put handbags in the driver's foot area as you get into your car.
* Lock car doors while putting items in the boot.
* Be aware of your surroundings.
