A 14-year-old has been arrested after a ram raid on a jewellery store on Auckland’s North Shore.
Acting Detective Sergeant Mike Watts said a car was seen smashing through the front of Nuttall Jewellers store around 4am last Sunday.
Multiple offenders raided the store, stealing jewellery before fleeing in a separate vehicle.
Photographs from the scene showed a grey Nissan Tiida in front of the store. The metal roller door has been smashed in. The offenders were believed to have slid under the door to gain entry.
Police spotted the vehicle this morning in Dannemora, Watts said, and it failed to stop for officers.
The car wasn’t chased by police. Instead, it was spiked near Bombay Hills and all the occupants were taken into custody.
“Following further enquiries, one of those occupants has since been charged over the Birkenhead burglary,” Watts said.
The teen will appear in Manukau Youth Court, charged with burglary and unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle.
Further arrests or charges are not being ruled out, Watts said.
Owner of the store Nilesh Kumar earlier said they had been asking the local business association to have bollards put up in front of his shop, but the ram-raiders struck before that could happen.
They had only just installed fog cannons last week, but that did not deter the thieves.
Kumar’s wife, who did not want to be named, said they moved to New Zealand from India more than 30 years ago.
“New Zealand used to be so safe, but now crime is out of control,” she said.
She said their minds were still “in a blank” and they did not have any idea what they were to do next.
This was the second time in just slightly more than a year that Nuttal had been hit by ram-raids, the last time being in March 2022.