Teens arrested after ramraid

Four teenagers have been arrested after a high speed chase following an early morning north Auckland ramraid on Monday.

The three 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old were among a gang of youths who smashed through the doors of Liquor King in Stanmore Bay.

Two vehicles pulled up outside the liquor store around 4.30am, Senior Sergeant Michael Rickards said.

‘‘They used large rocks to throw through the glass and they entered through the frontage area and obtained the alcohol.’’

‘‘One of those vehicles was pursued by police and apprehended, and four offenders were arrested for burglary and a quantity of alcohol was recovered,’’ he said.

The four made their first appearance at North Shore District Court on Monday afternoon charged with burglary.

One also faces a variety of driving charges following the pursuit, Rickard said.

Offenders in the second vehicle escaped, but Rickards said enquiries to find them are ongoing and the apprehension of the four, who weren’t from the area, was a great result.

Rickards said usually ram raids occur between 3am and 5am and he called for workers such as bread and paper deliverers or people having an extra early start to work to help police prevent them.

People should be on the look out for car loads of youths, sometimes travelling in convoys of two to three cars, acting suspiciously or driving erratically.

‘‘We’d want a 111 call immediately of any activity like that because that sends alarm bells to us.

‘‘You don’t normally have those sorts of groups driving around at those sorts of time in the morning unless they are up to no good.’’

Rickards said police would rather turn out for a call and find it turns out to be something legitimate, than let offenders like the four caught, who did a considerable amount of damage in a short amount of time, get away.

‘‘Calls from members of the public are critical for us. Obviously we can’t be everywhere at one time but if we have eyes and ears out there and that kind of activity’s being observed by members of the public in the early hours of the morning, we would definitely appreciate the call.’’