Pania statue theft could be prank gone wrong

Napier's iconic Pania of the Reef statue is still missing this morning, with police now suggesting its theft might have been a "prank gone wrong".

A five-strong team of detectives are investigating the disappearance of 51-year-old statue, which was taken from its plinth in the Marine Parade gardens early on Thursday morning.

Detective John McGregor, of Napier CIB, said information had started to trickle in.

"But it is not a lot at this stage," he said.

There was no one defined line of inquiry, nor was there any indication as to a motive.

The 60 to 70kg statue would be impossible to sell and worth as little as $200 if melted down.

Mr McGregor urged those responsible to get in touch with police to organise its return.

"It could have been a prank," he told the Dominion Post newspaper.

"But then they found themselves with a hot potato and didn't know what to do."

As of late yesterday there had only been one vehicle sighting reported -- that of a white Subaru Legacy sedan which was seen in the area around the time police believe the statue was taken.

That was between 3.30am and 4am, around the same time someone reported hearing what they described as a "clanging" noise coming from the direction of the garden.

Mr McGregor said the owner should contact police in order to be "eliminated" from the inquiry".

Mr McGregor would not elaborate on what possible forensic evidence may have been recovered from the scene.

But he quashed a suggestion that the statue may have been taken and dumped into the sea by someone who believed (by virtue of the legend) that that was where Pania belonged.

"All the indications are it was taken from the area by a vehicle."

There was no indication of footprints or drag marks down to the sea.

The marks found showed it had been taken to the carpark area near the back of the Ocean Spa complex.

The site of the statue continued to draw people to it yesterday afternoon, with some leaving flowers and notes of "come home."

- NZPA