Fifth person charged for machete-armed robberies

File photo / Rotorua Daily Post

A fifth person has been arrested and charged in relation to six machete-armed robberies in Auckland earlier this month.

Four other people have already been charged, having initially appeared at Auckland Youth Court on April 11.

The four - two 17-year-old men, a 16-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl - were caught committing their sixth robbery of the weekend, late on April 10.

The fifth alleged offender, a 16-year-old boy from east Auckland, will appear today at Auckland Youth Court, charged with one count of aggravated robbery. Further charges are likely, police said.

The gang's first attack was on Dominion Rd in Mt Eden at 3.10am on April 9. They struck again in Mission Bay at 3.48am, then on Customs St near Market Place at 4.30am, in Epsom on the intersection of Balmoral and St Andrews roads at 5.24am. On April 11 they committed two more robberies, first on Orakei Road at 8.30pm and then on Sherbourne Road at 11pm, where four of the group were caught.