File photo / NZ Herald
A trio of unusual break-ins and burglaries show "truth is stranger than fiction", police say.
Hamilton police were called to a house where a missing 16-year-old had been seen yesterday.
When officers arrived they found the boy with a number of things he admitted stealing, police said.
While they spoke to him, a 20-year-old man arrived at the house and was invited in by officers.
"As he was entering the man put down a jewellery box that had just been stolen in a burglary."
The pair were now part of an inquiry into a number of home break-ins, police said.
In another incident, a mother arrived home to find a young woman she did not know in one of her rooms.
Her son, who was barred from the property, emerged from another room to tell her he had broken in to cook a meal, police said.
She called police, who arrested the man soon afterward on outstanding warrants and a burglary charge relating to the alleged break in.
Senior Sergeant Freda Grace said another alleged incident involved a man telling police he may have "accidentally" been involved in a burglary.
The man claimed he had been driving by when he noticed some old friends and stopped to talk to them, she said.
"One man then went up to the house where the alarm was set off and came back running, telling him to hurry up and drive off."
An investigation was being carried out into the man's claims, Ms Grace said.
She said all the incidents involved a member of the public calling police to report suspicious activity.
- HERALD ONLINE
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