Four youths have been arrested after allegedly chasing a worker out of an Auckland convenience store this morning while armed with hammers and a machete.
Police said the group — aged between 12 and 17 — entered the dairy on Kepa Rd in Ōrākei just before 9am and threatened the attendant working inside.
“The attendant was chased out of the store,” Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Friend said.
“These offenders have taken the store’s cash register as well as other products from the store.”
The group then fled the scene in a stolen vehicle, he said.
Police said officers were working nearby when they were alerted to “suspicious activity” by local residents.
“A group of offenders were seen abandoning a vehicle and stealing a small van, and this detail was relayed to police,” Friend said.
The van was later found but fled police from an address in Panmure, he said.
Police did not pursue the vehicle, but the Police Eagle helicopter took over monitoring the van.
The vehicle was seen “travelling at speed south towards Weymouth” before three passengers were dropped off at various locations in the area, he said.
Three people were arrested by police and a driver was arrested after stopping in the Clendon Park area.
The cash register and some of the items stolen from the dairy were recovered by police this morning.
Charges were still to be confirmed, Friend said.