Police on crims’ trail

Police on crims’ trail

Ōtaki police believe they’re close to catching local criminals responsible to a series of incidents in the town over the past couple of months.

Local sergeant Phil Grimstone says his team has had blood analysed that was found at the scenes of ram raids at both Coin Save and Super Liquor. He believes the forensic evidence will lead to arrests of several young people.

“There are quite of few of them we believe are involved,” Phil says. “They are local young people.”

He says someone will know who these people are, and he’s urging the public to come forward with information.

“When a kid comes home wired early in the morning and sleeps all day, you know something is going on.”

The possibility it was local offenders surprised the operators of the two stores, who believed police were looking for out-of-towners.

Wayne Wang at Coin Save said he assumed they were not locals because the vehicles were stolen from outside the area. He and the Super Liquor operators were still counting the cost of the raids, including lost custom, insurance excess and property damage.

Meanwhile, police and the armed offenders squad executed a search warrant on a Lupin Road address on May 21, recovering several stolen items, including a firearm. A man police were looking for was not at the address but he is being sought for a string of burglaries and other offences.

“We believe he’s responsible for a large number of the recent burglaries at Ōtaki Beach,” Phil says.