KEY POINTS:
A teenager accused of stealing guns, handcuffs, drugs, pepper spray and a police car from Dargaville police station has appeared in court.
The 16-year-old male appeared before a justice of the peace at Dargaville Youth Court charged with burglary, possession of a firearm, possession of cannabis for supply, arson and theft of a motor vehicle.
He was remanded on bail and will reappear at the same court on Wednesday, police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said.
The teenager was arrested yesterday along with two women, aged 47 and 34, and a 34-year-old man after a police raid on a Dargaville house.
The other arrested people will face charges including resisting and obstructing police. They are due to appear in Dargaville District Court on Thursday.
Charges were laid after the police station was broken into early yesterday morning.
The traffic policing car was found burnt out nearby.
Police later recovered the three guns and confirmed they were not police issue and that all the police guns in the station had been accounted for. They also recovered a small amount of police gear, including handcuffs and pepper spray.
They would not say if the drugs they recovered during the raid on the house had been taken from the police station.
Police were continuing to investigate how the breach of security at the station occurred.
The first police knew of the break-in was when the firefighters called to say they had just hosed down the burned-out traffic patrol car 2km from the station.
Last night police raided a Dargaville house, arrested the two women and a man and recovered "a substantial amount of cannabis".
A spokesman said police could not say whether the drugs were the same as those taken from the town station.
Officers were today investigating how the thieves got into the station - and how monitoring and alarm equipment failed to alert them to the break-in.
Northland police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said the firearms and drugs were exhibits to be used as evidence in potential prosecutions.
Secured
The firearms were not police issue, but she refused to reveal what kind they were. All police-issue firearms were secured and accounted for, she said.
Asked if the burglary could have been done to remove evidence from a particular case, Ms Kennett said: "We cannot confirm what their motivation was."
Inspector Clifford Paxton, of Northland police district headquarters, said 20 officers were investigating.
Although 20 staff work at the station, it was not manned at the time of the burglary.
The building has a sign saying monitoring equipment is in place, but Ms Kennett said yesterday that she could not say whether cameras or an alarm were active.
The security arrangements of the station and the room where the evidence was being held would be reviewed.
The break-in happened between 1am and 5.30am and police want the public to tell them of any sightings of the blue and yellow traffic car during that time.
Ms Kennett refused to comment on whether the inside of the police station had been vandalised.
National Party police spokesman Chester Borrows, a former officer, said secondary police stations throughout the country were unstaffed for several hours overnight and in some circumstances smaller stations were unmanned for extended periods.
"Sometimes we forget the familiarity the criminals have of the interior layouts of police stations."
A spokesman for Police Commissioner Howard Broad said Northland police would investigate and report to the Office of the Police Commissioner in due course.
- additional reporting: NZPA
