Police are searching for a group armed with sledge-hammers and crow-bars who broke into a Lower Hutt home and assaulted the occupants before taking cell phones yesterday.
Six people arrived at an address in Cambridge Terrace, Waiwhetu in a van just before 7pm.
They smashed their way through the front door and into the house and then assaulted the five people inside before taking their cell phones, said police.
The offenders then left in the dark blue van with stickers on the back, heading towards Whites Line East on Cambridge Terrace.
Members of the public with information or who were in the area between 6.30pm and 7.30pm yesterday and saw the van or its occupants should contact Lower Hutt police on 04 560 4900.
