Driver and passenger of stolen car face driving and drugs charges following Hamilton incident"

It was a case of offenders being in the wrong place and officers being there at the right time that saw both a driver and passenger charged with driving and drug offences in Hamilton overnight.

Shift Manager, Sergeant Wayne Shanks said things began shortly after 11.30pm with a report of a ram raid at a Te Awamutu service station where thieves in a light coloured station-wagon made off with cigarettes and tobacco, fleeing north towards Hamilton.

“Responding units were looking for that light coloured vehicle when a white Holden Commodore station-wagon approached them near the intersection of Airport Rd and SH3.

As they attempted to stop it, the female driver has attempted to flee Police at speed.

“The fleeing driver was pursued by Police under the direction of the Northern Communications Centre before the car was stopped with the help of road spikes on Hamilton’s Mill St.”

Mr Shanks said as a result of the behaviour of the car’s occupants as it was being pursued, and information provided by them after their arrest, an unusual combination of charges have been laid.

“Both the 21-year-old female driver of the car and the 35-year-old male front seat passenger have been charged with driving, methamphetamine and demanding with menace charges while the male also faces charges of resisting Police and driving while disqualified third or subsequent offence.

“It appears at various points while the pair were attempting to avoid capture the male in the front passenger seat has taken over the steering of the vehicle, behaviour that we would describe simply as reckless in terms of their own and other road users’ safety.”

Mr Shanks said investigators were continuing to follow lines of inquiry in relation to the unrelated Te Awamutu service station burglary.

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