Youth crime: Ram raiders swap vehicles for power tools to break into shops

Robbers are ditching vehicles for power tools as they change tack in their relentless bid to fleece goods from dairies and bottle stores.

Ram raids had become so common police even created a specific offence description to gather data.

But one Waikato retailer - and store advocate - Ash Parmar says offenders have changed tack, and are now often waiting until the premises have closed before using power tools, including angle grinders, to break in.

“There’s a shift towards burglaries again, you know your traditional burglary, they cut the door, they cut the roof.

“The biggest escalation we’ve seen is these kids are using angle grinders now and there’s been other burglaries where there’s gangs of seven or eight.

“They scope the place out quite specifically and then obviously they’re either cutting entire doors off hinges or locks and gaining access.”

Once inside, they use their tools to cut their way into cigarette cabinets and other parts of the store that are locked, he said.

They’ve often scoped out the victim’s premises so they know its operating times.

The key to their new M.O., which mostly appears to be occurring in the Waikato, is the police scanner as Waikato police are yet to move to a digital frequency so a lot of their movements can be overheard.

“So in my area, burglars know they can take their time.”

When contacted, police confirmed they were aware of offenders using power tools at burglaries but hadn’t noticed an increase.

Parmar, who is so outspoken about his fight for store owners’ rights he stood for the Act Party in the Hamilton East seat in this year’s election, said as criminals were able to keep tabs on police movements over the scanner, they knew how long they could spend at a scene.

“So these kids specifically know police are not coming.

“They generally know what areas police are responding to and use it to their advantage.

“These burglaries are now getting quite lengthy.”

Parmer was subjected to a burglary in July and the alleged offenders - all youths - were there for 12 minutes.

“It’s a long time for a burglary.

“You see in other times it’s 30 seconds, 40 seconds and they’re gone, but they’re actually taking their time and emptying the shops out.

“One of the liquor stores in Huntly, they’ve just had a burglary, and they were like ‘Ash I don’t understand, they were here for four or five minutes’.

Teens use an angle grinder to break into a cigarette cabinet during the burglary of a Waikato bottle store in July. Image / Ash Parmar

“In my area burglaries are happening quite a bit, it’s actually quite profitable for them now. They can take their time.”

Given they know where police are, they don’t even panic, he said.

“The alarms go off but if you’re a burglar and know the police are not coming for 10 to 15 minutes, it’s very profitable for you, you can take your time grabbing spirits, cigarettes, or whatever you wanted to.

“Ram raids have definitely gone away, they were always going to because everyone has got bollards up. There’s just an isolated shop now that’s not protected.

“If they do a robbery there’s a good chance police will pick them up, but with the burglaries they are actually getting away with quite a bit so they’re getting quite smart about it.

Parmer said he was surprised there hadn’t been more fires during the burglaries.

“I’m surprised none of these shops are burning down because there’s big sparks flying everywhere.

“It’s the same as the ram raids when they were happening, I’m surprised none of the shops caught fire.”

Irvine St Dairy owner Purneet Singh, who also owns a dairy in Tokoroa, said he hadn’t experienced another burglary or robbery since he’d installed a steel access gate after last year’s incident when Trayd Tahau sliced off his storeworker’s fingers.

Most dairies now had a steel access gate, which he recommended.

He said his dairy in Tokoroa was a lot safer than his Hamilton store.

“I’ve owned that shop almost three years and not had an incident at all, nothing like this.”

Asked about criminals monitoring police movements through the scanner, a police spokesperson said that was “not a new trend”.

“Police, along with other emergency services, are beginning to roll out the Public Safety Network.

“This is a secure digital communications network which will replace the existing analogue radio networks.”

NZME understands Waikato is unlikely to change to the digital analogue until late 2024 or early 2025.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for eight years and been a journalist for 19.