Police have swooped in on offenders allegedly trying to sell clothing stolen from a west Auckland retailer yesterday.
At around 4.30pm, four masked offenders entered a store in Westgate, stealing jackets from the display racks.
°Â²¹¾±³Ù±ð³¾²¹³Ù¨¡ West Area Commander, Inspector Jason Edwards, says the offenders had arrived in a stolen vehicle before entering the shop.
¡°The group loaded the stolen items into the car, before fleeing the area,¡± he says.
¡°Some of the clothing they had stolen had been dropped outside the store and was returned by members of the public.¡±
No staff inside the store were injured.
Inspector Edwards says Police arrived in the area, and eventually located the stolen vehicle abandoned in Massey.
¡°Thanks to vigilant members of the public, they saw the group getting into another vehicle and contacted Police.¡±
Further enquiries led Police to a Massey address last night, with the Police Eagle helicopter witnessing suspicious activity at an address of interest.
¡°Our staff approached the address on Woodside Road, and soon carried out a search of the address,¡± Inspector Edwards says.
¡°Two males were located inside the house and were arrested, with the clothing items that had been stolen.¡±
Two men, aged 20 and 17, are scheduled to appear in the Wait¨¡kere District and Youth Courts.
Inspector Edwards says enquiries are ongoing and further charges cannot be ruled out including for anyone who may have bought any stolen clothing.
¡°This offending impacts our retailers, the wider community, and hardworking people who are just doing their job.
¡°It is a great outcome to make arrests so quickly over this matter, and Police acknowledge members of the public for quickly reporting suspicious activity.¡±
ENDS.
Tony Wright/51½ÖÉä
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