Man arrested over brazen mall robbery
A man has been arrested after a brazen daylight robbery at a West Auckland mall.
On Sunday, a group of five thieves made off with jewellery from Michael Hill in a brazen smash and grab attack at NorthWest Shopping Centre about 3.45pm.
Now, a 27-year-old man has been arrested in relation to the incident.
Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said officers investigating the alleged robbery were “made aware of a vehicle of interest travelling in Manurewa” just after 9pm on Sunday.
The police eagle helicopter was called, and helped officers track the car, Baldwin said.
“The vehicle allegedly failed to stop for Police when signalled to do so and was observed driving in a concerning manner throughout the area.”
The vehicle then stopped on Rowandale Rd, and the driver fled the area on foot, he said.
The man was later taken into custody “without further incident”.
The man was to appear in Waitākere District Court yesterday on charges relating to the aggravated robbery and failing to stop.
“We continue to ask anyone with information on the incident who have not yet spoken to police to please get in touch.”
An investigation team dubbed Operation Dusk continue to make inquiries into recent alleged offending at jewellery stores in Tāmaki Makaurau, and are reviewing whether this incident is associated with previous incidents of the same nature, Baldwin said.
A retail worker at the mall said there was chaos, panic and confusion following an armed robbery.
Synergy Hair receptionist Tessa van Houten said she was serving a customer when they heard loud bangs and saw groups of people running.
Van Houten said initially she thought it was kids ‘’mucking around” on the last day of the school holidays.
‘’But then there was a lot of yelling, and more people were running and I [saw] further up in the mall stores were closing their gates. We didn’t know what was going on but I thought ‘oh well, it’s better to be safe than sorry and let’s follow suit’.”
Van Houten said she, her co-worker and several customers waited inside for 15 minutes until an alarm sounded telling everyone to evacuate to the car park.
Outside, there were “helicopters flying over, a lot of police sirens and fire trucks ... we still didn’t know what was happening’’.
Van Houten said mall workers and customers were in the car park for half an hour before they were able to return inside.
“We noticed Michael Hill had been smashed and grabbed ... after my shift we got a closer look and saw that a lot of the glass cabinets had been broken into, the front ones didn’t seem [smashed] but the ones towards the back seemed completely broken.”
She said the recent fatal stabbings at a Sydney mall were top of mind for her and the salon’s hairdresser.
“Me and my co-worker had discussed [the other week] what would we do in a situation like that y’know, so we already were on the same page.’’