Store owner sleeps in shop after five attacks
Andy Lin has spent a week drifting in and out of consciousness every night at work, his eyes glued to CCTV cameras.
Meanwhile his wife, Anna Zheng, lies awake at home worrying for his safety. Their Sandringham store in Auckland, a liquor shop, has been attacked five times since November.
The ordeal has included three ramraids, more than $50,000 in product stolen and $14,000 in damage to the store. Last week, their shop was ramraided twice in two days.
It was after the fifth attack, on April 21, that Lin and his wife decided he would stay and guard the shop. He showed Stuff his minimalistic set-up: a deck chair perched in front of two large CCTV camera screens.
Lin doesn’t sleep in a bed. He said he can’t afford to ‘‘sleep heavily’’ in case the ramraiders come back.
‘‘About 2am I go to sleep. I can do reading and peer up [at the camera footage] – I’mgetting much less sleep at night,’’ he said.
Lin’s wife, Zheng, said her husband didn’t come home from work any more. She spends every night worried something will happen to him.
They talk to each other on the phone each night, but Zheng stays home as the couple don’t want to risk her safety too.
Most of the attacks have happened between 3am and 4am – Zheng said she now wakes up automatically between those hours, and has to check in with Lin to make sure he’s OK.
When asked how long the couple will keep this up, Zheng said there’s a need for the store to be guarded until a new roller door is installed.
It will be about twomonths until the roller door is in place, but Zheng doesn’t think Lin can sleep at the shop for that long.
‘‘No, I don’t think we’ll be able to do this for twomonths. We’re just thinking whatever we can do for now, we’ll do,’’ she said.
These sorts of stories are the result of a spate in crime sweeping several districts in Auckland – particularly Sandringham. The local business association said the area is suffering two to three ramraids a week.
Stuff told the story last week of a Sandringham business that’s been robbed four times, twice at knife-point. The local dairy was raided two weeks ago.
Zheng and Lin have owned their liquor store for 13 years. After 12 years without serious incident, the first raid came in November, when offenders broke in through the back door and stole a few hundred dollars’ worth of beer.
‘‘Quite a few shops around us have been ramraided. Since November, I haven’t felt the same way about running a shop in this village,’’ said Zheng.
The Sandringham Business Association is responding with a security patrol on foot. With police unreliable for such patrols due to call-out demand, the association is turning to the private sector for assistance. So far, 20 businesses have agreed to pay a weekly contribution for two fulltime security guards.
Association chairman Jithin Chittibomma wants to get 50 businesses on board. ‘‘Look, tomorrow something stupid could still happen, even with security. But
having somebody on the ground to immediately call police would deter ramraids.’’
Police work with social media giants
Police in Auckland are working with social media after a spate of ramraids across the city.
Speaking to reporters at Manukau police station yesterday afternoon, Detective Inspector Karen Bright revealed police were working with social media companies, because many of the raids are posted on platforms such as Tiktok.
‘‘Obviously, there’s a role that social media is playing in this,’’ she said. ‘‘That’s driving some of the offending.’’
Countiesmanukau police had dealt with more than 60 young offenders since October 2021, when ramraids started to spike, she said.
‘‘The majority of offenders involved in this are really young. One of the real worries we have is that it’s a tragedy waiting to happen.’’