Police bust crime ring

A string of arrests in Te Puke has left police confident they have busted a major crime ring in the Western Bay of Plenty town.

The breakthrough will have a major impact in the area, particularly on the availability of methamphetamine, said Tauranga CIB head Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner.

Those charged include a Te Puke security guard accused of the aggravated robbery of the town's Imbargo Bar on October 26.

Another local man, aged 25 and unemployed, faces a count of possessing a class A controlled drug (methamphetamine) for supply.

Several other defendants face burglary, possessing cannabis for supply and assault charges.

Mr Turner said the arrests capped a six-week period that had seen the apprehension of two men for robberies of fast food outlets in the past 14 months, two for the near-fatal beating of a Tauranga taxi drier and four for the aggravated robbery and burglary of Paengaroa couple Peter and Maggie Bentley.