Car in $200,000 robbery to be searched

Closed-circuit TV footage shows the robbers' getaway vehicle.

Police were today taking DNA swabs and fingerprints from the stolen car used in a $200,000 armed robbery in South Auckland.

The 1998 white Subaru WRX sedan was found late yesterday afternoon in Ryan Place, Manukau City - about 300m from the Bank of New Zealand branch where the robbery occurred on Friday night.

An Armourguard driver was confronted by a balaclava-clad gunman as he prepared to load the money into a van from the BNZ on the corner of Great South Rd and Ronwood Ave.

The gunman threatened the driver with a sawn-off shotgun before snatching six large money bags and escaping in the Subaru driven by an accomplice.

Detective Sergeant Simon Irving, of Counties Manukau police, told the Herald the car would undergo forensic testing this morning.

"It will be tested for fingerprints, swabs for DNA taken and photographed. Any objects found in it will also be examined."

Police hadn't searched the car last night because the officers who recovered it were under instructions not to open it until the forensic tests could be carried out, Mr Irving said.

Police were told where the car was by a resident of Ryan Place, which is semi-industrial but has some housing.

Mr Irving said the robbery had been well planned and the van driver was taken by surprise.

"It was out of the blue. The driver hadn't seen anyone following him."

The Subaru had been stolen from a carpark in Papatoetoe 40 minutes before the robbery.

The gunman was described as being of solid build and wearing a black balaclava over a peaked cap.

He also had on white gloves, a dark sweatshirt, blue jeans and sneakers.

A second Armourguard employee was understood to be in the bank at the time of the robbery.

Armourguard general manager Ian Anderson said he was confident the robbers would be caught.

"Where appropriate, we will assist police inquiries by putting our own additional resources behind the investigation," he said.

"Our systems and processes are such that we are very confident that the offenders will be apprehended."

Mr Anderson said the company responded immediately to prevent danger to the public, and its procedures stopped even more money being stolen.

The company would not say what those procedures were.

"The two Armourguard staff members who responded well to a volatile and dangerous situation have been offered support and counselling."

It was the first armed robbery of an Armourguard vehicle since February 2006.

- additional reporting: NZPA