Gecko thief was on work programme

Fat Albert was stolen, and recovered. Photo / Northern Advocate

Hey hey hey - Fat Albert got stolen by a teenager who was on a work programme for previous criminal offending.

Investigations are continuing into whether Justin Howes, 19, has links to gecko smugglers after he stole 23 reptiles from two tourist attractions.

Among the stolen geckos was Northland's famous Fat Albert, known as the "gecko who ate all the flies" to out-grow his mates.

The burglaries have earned Howes six months in prison and left the Department of Corrections red-faced. Fat Albert and the other geckos were recovered when police raided Howes' home and found a professionally built compound for the reptiles.

Howes was placed at the Whangarei Museum and Kiwi House for community work after being convicted of previous crimes. It is unknown what he was convicted of or how long his sentence was.

But Howes worked out how to beat the popular attraction's security system. The theft took place late last month, the day after Howes burgled the Ti Point Reptile Park at Leigh near Warkworth, north of Auckland.

A Department of Corrections spokesman confirmed that Howes had been placed at the Kiwi House to do community work.

Museum director Sue Walters said Howes showed "an awful lot of interest" in the way the attraction operated.

Howes was able to study the security system and staff movements. He had also found geckos in quarantine in an area of the park "that very few people knew were there".

Walters said: "We have a lot of relations with the Corrections Department. We have acres of grass that need to be mowed."

The museum had boosted security after a previous burglary, and an increased awareness of the high value foreign reptile collectors placed on New Zealand geckos. It had a top security system and even has a live-in caretaker.

New Zealand geckos are highly sought after abroad - three European men were sent to prison earlier this year for smuggling the reptiles after being caught with about 30 geckos. The haul was valued in excess of $200,000.

Walter said she did not know if Howes was operating alone but was told that he had kept the geckos in a homemade enclosure that displayed "significant carpentry". "The cages were very well made."

Ti Point owner Ivan Borich said it was believed that Howes had visited the park as a visitor and used the opportunity to study security. "He knew enough to get around the system."