A man has been arrested after allegedly trying to steal bedroom furniture from a house in Hamilton over the weekend.
Officers from a Waikato Public Service team were called to a home on Nixon St around 6.30am on Saturday after a witness was jolted awake by what they thought sounded like a car crash as the man broke into the property.
Police arrived at the scene to find a vehicle leaving the address loaded with “several items” of household furniture, Inspector Andrea McBeth said.
“During the burglary, the offender had removed bedroom furniture from the address, including a bed base and a dressing table – the latter was found strapped to the roof of the vehicle.”
The 34-year-old man was arrested without incident.
He will appear in the Hamilton District Court today on burglary charges.
“While the arrest is positive, attending police were concerned at the boldness of the offender, who had spent some time removing furniture from the address,” McBeth said.
“This type of offending creates frustration and a sense of violation of privacy for our victims. We are very grateful to the member of the public who alerted us to the burglary while it was in progress.
“Our staff were able to get to the scene quickly and halt the offending.”
The stolen property will be returned to the victim.
McBeth called the burglary a “timely reminder” for anyone who sees or witnesses the crime to call 111 if it’s happening now or 105 if it’s a non-emergency.