Brazen robbery linked to bomb hoax

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A brazen robber allegedly distracted police with a hoax bomb threat to a Tauranga library, sparking a mass evacuation, before holding up a Post Shop across town with a knife yesterday afternoon.

The drama kicked off at 3.17pm, when Tauranga City Library staff member Kay Mathieson answered a phone call saying a bomb had been planted somewhere in the building.

Mrs Mathieson was told the bomb would go off in 20 minutes and the warning was "not a joke", library manager Jill Best said.

Library staff immediately phoned the police, triggering a full-scale evacuation of the library, adjoining council offices, and a nearby event centre.

About the same time, police responded to a call at a Cameron Rd Post Shop, about 2km away, where a man pulled out a knife and left with a small amount of cash.

Less than an hour later, police found the alleged offender, a 30-year-old unemployed local man, in Turret Rd.

Resident Gerald Williams said he saw two police chasing a man dressed in a black shirt and shorts, before one of the officers tackled him.

"[The offender] took off around a toilet block, went down the bank, and then one of the police officers went straight down and nailed him."

The alleged robber has been charged with aggravated robbery and making the hoax bomb threat, and is due to appear in court today.

Tauranga police Senior Sergeant Owen O'Brien thanked the council and library staff for their "prompt actions" in evacuating the buildings, which were cordoned off for about 45 minutes.

Mrs Best said the scare resulted in hundreds of people having to wait outside, proving "a terrible waste of time".

"We had to take it seriously. But for 300 people to be waiting outside for an hour, and an hour's lost wages, I hope it will all be explained very carefully to whoever did it."