Police seek car in hunt for robbers

Photo supplied.

Police are seeking help to find a car believed to have been stolen by a trio of robbers who held up two Bay of Plenty shops at gunpoint yesterday.

The black Nissan Skyline coupe (pictured, right), registered ACY453, was taken from Mount Maunganui College on Friday morning.

It was caught on camera at Greerton service station about 1pm yesterday when one offender went to fill up the car with petrol.

The car was believed to have been used in two aggravated robberies yesterday.

A Te Puke jewellery store was robbed about 11.30am, followed by the Kati Kati Paper Plus store at 2.25pm, when three disguised offenders with a sawn-off shotgun stole a small amount of cash.

The car used in the second robbery had both number plates removed.

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner said the image showed there were four occupants in the car, and one person was thought to have remained in the car during at least one robbery.

Anyone who had seen people in a Nissan Skyline acting suspiciously, or an abandoned Skyline in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato or Coromandel areas, or had any information should contact Tauranga Police on (07) 577 4300 or 0800 SPEAKUP.

It was too early to say whether the robberies were connected to recent gunpoint robberies in Waikato, police said.

- NZPA