Jewel robbery investigators still looking for cars

Police says they are still keen to find two vehicles in connection with two major jewellery robberies in Auckland last month.

Seven foreign nationals alleged to have been part of an international crime syndicate which netted $770,000 worth of jewellery have now been arrested and appeared in court.

Two of them, Juan Leal Casillas and Jose Robert Jimenez Perez, were arrested at the weekend after a nationwide hunt by police.

Police inquiry head Detective Inspector Scott Beard said today the operation had in the past week concentrated largely on catching Casillas and Jimenez Perez, who were located in Morrinsville and Wellington respectively.

"That's been our priority, so we've now got to go through the evidence in detail, including if there's anyone else we've missed," he told NZPA.

Mr Beard said police were also still looking for two vehicles - a grey Mitsubishi, registration number BDZ991, and a red Honda Accord, registration number CZK497.

"They could be anywhere, but we think they are probably in the North Island. We would very much like to find these vehicles."

The seven accused, who were travelling on a mixture of American, Colombian and Mexican passports, were allegedly involved in two robberies of international dealers in Auckland last month.

In the first, a Sydney dealer lost jewellery worth $110,000 in the inner-city neighbourhood of Parnell on May 2.

Two other international dealers were robbed of more than $600,000 of gems outside Rydges Hotel in central Auckland on May 17.

Most of the stolen jewellery has been recovered.

Casillas, 26, was arrested in the Waikato town of Morrinsville on Saturday night after a tip off from a member of the public.

He appeared briefly in Auckland District Court yesterday and again today, when he was denied name suppression by Judge Anne Kiernan.

Perez, 26, was arrested in Wellington over the weekend. He appeared in Wellington District Court today, where he was remanded in custody to reappear in Auckland District Court later this month.

Five other people appeared in Auckland District Court last week. Cesar Orlando Romero, 43, Javier Espinosa Agreda, 26, and Maria Teresa Martinez, 47, were all remanded in custody. Like Casillas and Jimenez Perez, they face two charges of aggravated robbery and one of being members of an organised criminal group.

Two other women, aged 43 and 25, were remanded on bail. They face two charges of receiving and one of membership of an organised criminal group.

They cannot be named after their lawyers, Barry Hart and Alistair Haskett, said they would appeal Judge Eddie Paul's decision declining them name suppression.

If proceeded with, their appeal is likely to be heard some time this week in the High Court.

- NZPA