Quest to bring jewel raids group to justice
In the past three weeks a masked group has unleashed a spate of robberies on five Auckland jewellery stores and a bar. Police have a team of officers dedicated to finding the culprits and working out how they’re shifting upwards of a million dollars of loot. Herald reporter George Block spoke to a detective in charge.
It was just before closing time when the group of six masked robbers burst into Glitter Jewellers.
As they stormed into the Manurewa store wielding hammers and a machete, staff and customers leapt over the counters to take cover, or huddled against each other amid the mayhem.
Meanwhile, the man at the head of the group marched towards the front counter, raised a mallet and smashed it down into the glass as others set about methodically ransacking the store.
Less than a minute after arrival and they’re back out the door as smoke from a fog cannon fills the premises.
The owners would later say the robbers made off with upwards of a million dollars’ worth of gems and jewellery.
One thing is clear from the footage. It’s not their first rodeo. Police believe they may be responsible for seven recent robberies across the city, starting with Partridge Jewellers in Newmarket on April 12, Michael Hill branches in St Lukes and Onehunga on April 14 and 18, and another targeting the same Partridge Jewellers in Newmarket on April 21.
Chilli Bar in Hillsborough was robbed on April 24 — the offenders also burgled an adjacent Subway.
Glitter Jewellers Manurewa was hit on April 25 and a Michael Hill in the Northwest Shopping Centre on April 28. The Michael Hill Northwest robbery is the only one of the seven for which police have made an arrest — a man aged 27.
Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin is Field Crime Manager of Auckland City CIB and the senior investigating officer for Operation Dusk, the team of 10 police staff set up in response to the spate of jewellery store robberies.
Baldwin said police believe the seven robberies are likely the work of the same cohort, though some people might be rotating in and out of the criminal group.
The investigators are reviewing CCTV footage and have forensics from the stores and the stolen cars used in some of the robberies, Baldwin said.
“We’re in the business of doing oldfashioned detective work. But it does take time, and I get that can be frustrating for the public.”
Baldwin said he understood the frustration of retailers and the public who wanted swift arrests. But the police had to build a good case of the high standard required to prove the charges in court, he said.
“We’re in the business of proving things beyond reasonable doubt,” Baldwin said.
“The team has to work diligently. We have to build evidential cases so that we can hold these people to account properly.”
Identifying those involved is challenging. They’re invariably masked and turn up in stolen cars, dumped shortly after the robbery. Instead of ram-raiding the stores with a vehicle they swarm in, overwhelming staff.’’ Baldwin urged retailers to devise a plan for if they were targeted.
He said the robbers usually moved in groups of five or six, travelling in two stolen cars.
“They will dump a car at a change point and get into another car,” he said.
“People might see those cars being dropped off. We need them to be calling 111 as soon as possible.”
Baldwin said the group were easily recognisable by the public as soon as they pulled up to a mall.
“They’ll see and realise that this is a car full of crooks and something bad is about to happen,” he said.
“Call 111. The sooner we know about that, the sooner we can get the resources headed to that location with a view to interrupting, disturbing and preventing them from committing those crimes, because they are deeply alarming.”
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said he understood some of those involved in the spate of robberies
were children aged between 9 and 14.
Baldwin said the investigators are keeping an open mind and they are yet to definitively identify everyone in the group.
“The offender that was arrested on Sunday night following the Michael Hill robbery at Northwest Mall in West Auckland was not a teenager, he was a bit older. We keep an open mind on that.”
For the robberies to be worthwhile for the gang, they need to find some way to flick on the stolen loot.
At this stage, it’s unclear where it’s ending up, Baldwin said.
“How the property is being disposed, well that’s something we are very interested in,” he said.
“It could be going through secondhand dealers, it could be sold online, it could be going to a fence (someone who knowingly buys stolen property to on-sell).”
Baldwin said there was no evidence of the stolen items ending up overseas.
The investigators were not in a position to know whether some of the loot may be stolen to order but again were keeping an open mind about this, and any possible links to organised crime, he said.
“We want to hear from anybody that has knowledge about those items of jewellery.
“The high-end stuff is going to really stand out. Some of those watches are very, very expensive. The Cartier watches, the Longines watches.”
He said a big red flag was if highend jewellery such as flash watches were being sold at bargain bin prices.
“To make it clear, anybody that’s buying jewellery items or watches that are just way too cheap, you have to know that it’s probably stolen and it’s dodgy.
“And what you are actually guilty of is the crime of receiving. But more to the point, you are guilty of driving this type of crime, because these offenders can sell it and people are buying it, so the black market goes on.
“If people are seeing stuff online or being offered stuff that is ridiculously cheap, do the right thing and call police.”
● Police are asking anyone with information, pictures or footage of the robberies, or knowledge of the stolen goods, to come forward via the 105 line or web portal, or via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
We’re in the business of doing old-fashioned detective work. But it does take time, and I get that can be frustrating for the public.
Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin