Gunman robs security guard of more than $30,000

Senior Constable Grant Sanders checks the vehicle used in the St Lukes robbery for fingerprints. Picture / Brett Phibbs

A second Auckland ADT security guard has been robbed at gunpoint in less than a week - with the thieves stealing more than $30,000.

The guard was returning to his van in a carpark at St Lukes shopping centre yesterday afternoon when a maroon-coloured car pulled in front of him.

Police say a masked man jumped out of the passenger seat and pointed a sawn-off shotgun at the guard, who had just left a PostShop-KiwiBank outlet with several bags of money.

The gunman yelled, "Give me the money, give me the money". The guard dropped the cash on the ground and backed away.

He was shaken but not injured.

The maroon car, a Ford Telstar that had been stolen from Carrington Rd on June 7, left the carpark via the St Lukes Rd exit and was last seen heading towards Balmoral Rd.

It was found minutes later by firefighters in Woodside Ave.

A fire had been lit in the front driver's seat and screwed up newspaper was thrown around the footwell of the front passenger seat.

Police were last night dusting the car for fingerprints.

The aggravated robbery follows a similar incident last week, when two men armed with a sawnoff shotgun stole more than $50,000 from an ADT security guard who was leaving a bank in Queen St.

Those robbers escaped in a dark-coloured stationwagon, which may have also been stolen. It has yet to be found.

Police yesterday said it was too early to say if the two robberies were connected but there were several similarities. No one from ADT was available for comment last night.

It is understood police are also looking at two or three aggravated robberies of security guards last year in which burned-out stolen cars were later found.

However, police said it was too early to say if they were connected to the recent incidents.

They would like to hear from any witnesses to yesterday's robbery or the dumping of the getaway car. Anyone with information should phone Auckland City crime squad on 302-6789.

* North Shore police are investigating two separate aggravated robberies.

The first occurred on Sunday night at a dairy in Sunnynook where two balaclava-clad men with a machete demanded money from the sole shop attendant. They tried unsuccessfully to get into the till, then grabbed cigarettes and left in a light-green car.

Yesterday morning a man carrying a sawnoff shotgun approached an employee as he was about to start work at Bunnings Warehouse in Mairangi Bay.

The gunman marched the employee into the office and forced him to hand over the weekend's takings before tying him up. The gunman is described as Polynesian, about 25 years old and of medium build. His face was partially covered.

Anyone with information about either robbery can contact the North Shore CIB on 488-6200.