Deja vu in armed raid

Robbers struck again on a busy Auckland road yesterday in a hold-up eerily similar to one carried out three months ago almost to the day.

At 6pm on busy Dominion Rd, a Chubb security van was held up outside the ASB Bank by a man brandishing a small rifle and wearing a bandana around his face.
The robber, described as Polynesian, left in a green four-wheel-drive vehicle driven by a male European in his late 20s to early 30s.

The vehicle was found abandoned at nearby St Lukes shopping centre.

On November 27, two men armed with a pistol escaped with cash after threatening two security guards in the same spot outside the same bank.

They also struck in the evening rush hour, with dozens of witnesses about and after the guards had just emptied the bank's safe.

The robbers dumped their green Mazda outside Mt Eden Normal School and fled to a waiting BMW.

No shots were fired and no one was hurt in last night's hold-up but a shot was fired in the earlier robbery.