CCTV shows children stealing cigarettes from dairy, officer with Taser drawn

Thursday, 28 April 2022

A dairy in Grey Lynn, central Auckland, was robbed by three people, including a 12-year-old. Police disturbed the raid and retrieved the cigarettes.

CCTV footage of a dairy robbery shows a policewoman with a drawn Taser letting the three young thieves run past.

A duffle bag of cigarettes was later recovered by police following the robbery in central Auckland’s Grey Lynn.

Police caught a 12-year-old driving the getaway car.

The Williamson Avenue Superette was raided by children as young as 12 over the weekend.

At 11.05pm on Sunday, police patrolling in Grey Lynn interrupted a theft after noticing damage to the front door of a dairy on Williamson Ave.

CCTV video of the dairy robbery shows thieves smashing into the store with a hammer.

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CCTV pictures show the thieves stealing cigarettes and tobacco from behind the counter.

CCTV captured images of a policewoman with her Taser drawn while the thieves were still in the store.

CCTV video shows the three thieves entered the dairy by smashing one of the front windows with hammers.

The thieves then entered and stole cigarettes and tobacco, targeting two cupboards behind the counter with wooden doors where the products were kept.

Co-owner Bhumika Patel in her store on Grey Lynn’s Williamson Ave.

Upon hearing police, the three people ran out of the store and got into a waiting vehicle, with a 12-year-old female taking the driver's seat.

One of the police officers had a Taser drawn, but CCTV footage shows her not firing it and letting the thieves run past.

Police caught a group of thieves, including a 12-year-old, who robbed a dairy in Auckland's Grey Lynn. Owner Bhumika Patel said she is now constantly checking her CCTV stream.

The car was followed by a police helicopter as it exited the Southern Motorway at Mt Wellington, before the getaway driver lost control of the vehicle in wet conditions and crashed into a tree.

No passengers were injured, and all five were taken into custody.

Police said “a large amount of stolen property' was recovered from the vehicle, including a duffle bag full of cigarettes.

The Williamson Avenue Superette was robbed on Sunday night.

Three people have been referred to Youth Aid following the incident.

Bhumika Patel, who co-owns the dairy with her husband, said it was fortunate the theft happened at night.

She said that if the robbery happened during the day, she or her husband would have been stuck behind the counter and could have been hurt.

The thieves stole between $4000 and $5000 worth of cigarettes and tobacco, which the police are set to return on Friday.

“Without cigarettes there is no business, no one will come,” Patel said.

Now, she is worried that a wooden board – a temporary replacement for the smashed glass – will be targeted by thieves.

Patel is constantly checking the CCTV footage streamed on her phone, even when she’s not working.

“I thought, ‘Why did I not watch on Sunday?’ But you can’t watch it all the time,” she said.

Patel said the quick movements of the thieves in the CCTV footage showed that they had probably scoped out the store beforehand.

“They know everything. When they come, they don’t even hesitate, they know where to go.”

Patel and her husband are now planning to get more CCTV cameras, and the store already has bollards outside to stop ramraids.