Girls steal icecreams at gunpoint

CCTV footage shows the teens entering the takeaway and threatening the owner. Photo / Supplied

Three girls led a gang of teenagers who threatened an Auckland takeaway owner with a gun and hammers last night - before making off with bags of icecreams.

The youths burst into the Ranui Food Bar and Takeaway in West Auckland as it was closing shortly before 9pm.

A girl wearing a cap and hoodie pulled over her face pointed a gun at owner Yunan Zheng, who was vacuuming the front of the shop.

"The girl with the gun said, 'Hurry up, give us some money'," Zheng said.

Two others brandished hammers as they rushed into the shop and filled backpacks with icecreams from a freezer.

One tried to take cash from the till but was unable to open the drawer.

The group were caught on security camera, but wore hoods pulled over their head, and scarves or T-shirts wrapped around their faces.

Zheng said at least three of the robbers were girls, and suspected two were the same pair who robbed the shop on New Year's Eve, when they made off with cash from the till.

The two robberies were the first incidents in five years at the Swanson Rd business. Last night's attack made him feel "a little worried" about working in the shop at night, he said.

Zheng said he was unsure whether the small gun was real. "I'm not sure but it looked like a fake."

Wife Hoa Zheng, who was out the back of the takeaway bar, said she was frightened when she heard the group rushing inside.

She said she recognised one girl's voice from the December robbery.

No one was charged following that incident.

Hoa Zheng said she had only just restocked the freezers, and believed more than 60 icecreams were taken.

Inspector Matt Sillars of police communications said last night no arrests had been made but there were good lines of inquiry.

He said police couldn't confirm whether the firearm was real or fake.

It's not the first time young offenders have held up Auckland shopowners for lollies and icecreams.

In March last year three boys robbed the Edendale Superette in central Auckland at gunpoint, filling a bag with icecreams and chocolate and taking cigarettes and about $400 in cash.

Shopkeeper Shazia Hussain was alone in the shop with her two-month-old baby at the time.

The boys had been captured on security camera in the shop earlier that day with their faces uncovered.