Driver flees carload full of weed
A man is on the run after crashing a car loaded with cannabis plants and stolen goods during a police chase in Hamilton overnight.
Abandoning his female passenger, he fled from the crash outside the city mosque, waking residents as he jumped fences through suburban Claudelands.
The incident began when the driver of the stolen Honda Civic failed to stop for police on Heaphy Terrace in Fairfield.
The man behind the wheel took off at speed, heading towards Claudelands, Waikato police Senior Sergeant Simon Cherry said.
At the roundabout outside the Jamia Masjid Mosque, the speeding driver lost control and ploughed into the mosque’s iron fence.
Cherry said police arrived to find the car loaded with large cannabis plants and stolen property from recent burglaries.
A 17-year-old Whakatane woman, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was arrested at the scene. The driver had taken off, running through properties along Stanley Street and Oakley Avenue, heading towards River Road.
Multiple residents sighted him fleeing over the roof of a block of flats and jumping fences at 12.56am.
A police dog and handler picked up the man’s scent and tracked it a short distance before it ran out near River Road.
‘‘We’re making inquiries to try to identify him. We believe he is wanted in the Waikato east area for similar offending.’’
Already on active charges from offending in Rotorua, the man is also wanted in the Matamata and eastern Waikato district, Cherry said.
Anyone who has information about the man, or incident, can call 111 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.