Police are investigating at least two burglaries in Auckland overnight - including at a large supermarket in the suburb of Lynfield.
Officers were called to Countdown Lynfield, on Hillsborough Rd, shortly before 1am after reports of a break-in.
“A group of offenders have taken multiple items before fleeing from the scene in a vehicle,” a police spokeswoman said.
“Police are following positive lines of inquiry to locate those responsible.”
A person who works at the supermarket told the Herald they had seen the security footage and said those involved were youth.
There were up to nine people spotted on camera, the worker said.
They also confirmed that there were four or five staff workers filling shelves at the time of the incident. No one was hurt.
CCTV footage showed those involved were in the store for about a minute. They broke into the glass entrance doors and were seen shaking the checkout tills and cigarette boxes.
After finding them empty, however, they took off with small chocolate bars, the staff member said.
Early this morning, police officers could be seen assessing the damage inside the supermarket.
Several windows - including at the entrance doors - had been smashed and glass littered the ground inside and outside.
It is not yet known exactly what was taken. But cigarette roller packets were spotted on the ground at one of the counters.
Police are also looking into a ram raid incident at a liquor store in Wairau Valley.
Authorities were called to the Harbour City Liquor Centre, on View Rd, about 2.30am after reports that a vehicle had been used to smash into the store.
The shocked owner said at the scene: “I honestly don’t want to do this job anymore. This is my second ram raid.
“Auckland has gone very, very bad.”
Police said at this stage, their inquiries are ongoing and are working to determine who is responsible.
Police Minister Stuart Nash spoke to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking this morning about crime in New Zealand - and specifically about gang activity.
He talked about retail crime as well, acknowledging that it was a big problem.
“It all starts somewhere - it starts with shoplifting, starts with theft and then you end up in a gang and before you know it, you’re shipping meth.
“That’s not always the track...but it can be and so it’s the reason why we’re putting a whole lot of effort and resource into going after the gangs.”
On gangs, Nash said: “We are going really, really hard against the gangs.
“Every single tool we can use, every man and every woman is going hard against the gangs because we do not want these people doing their dastardly crimes in our community.”
He said the gangs were, by and large, responsible for the meth distribution in New Zealand - the reason they were going so hard against them, he reiterated.
Can you help? Anyone with information that can help Police with their investigations is urged to contact authorities immediately via 105 or CrimeStoppers Anonymous on 0800 555 111
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