Northland District Headquarters
88 Cameron Street, Whangärei
Wednesday July 16, 2014

Police have arrested a 17-year-old male after the discovery of 50 bottles of alcohol in the boot of a stolen car.

About 4.30am on Tuesday morning (July 15) a resident in Simons Street, Kensington woke to hear someone shutting the door of her car. She got up and saw a man driving off with the car. The woman called police and, along with her partner, jumped in another car and followed the stolen car.

She lost sight of the car on Mill Road. Police were patrolling the area at the time and put in cordons to stop the stolen car. They eventually came across the car, which had been dumped in McKinnon Crescent, Otangarei.

A police dog handler was called in to track the offender who was found at another Otangarei address.

When police searched the stolen car they found a chilly bin with 50 bottles of bourbon and two 24-packs of RTDs, a fuel tank and other stolen property.

After further inquiries, police found that the alcohol had been stolen from a Kamo address sometime after 4pm on Sunday afternoon. The other items were linked to a burglary at an Islington Street address and a vehicle had been interfered with at another Islington Street address.

A 17-year-old man has been charged with unlawful taking of motor vehicle and further charges, including burglary, will be laid today.

Whangärei/Kaipara Area Prevention Manager Cliff Metcalfe says police were patrolling the area where the incident occurred as the area had been a hotspot for dishonesty offending.

"Police were there within in minutes of receiving the call about the unlawful taking and were able to track down and catch an offender quite quickly. We can now get the stolen property and car back to the victims."

Mr Metcalfe says this shows the proactive patrolling can make a difference in reducing offending and also reacting quickly to any offending that does take place.

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