NZ Police Auckland City

Location of incident: Glen Innes/Panmure

Incident Type: Fruitless morning for courier parcel thieves

Thieves who stole a courier van for the purposes of stealing its parcels were forced to throw away the fruits of their labours as they fled police this morning - and while the parcels are back in safe hands, the offenders are in police custody.

The offenders stole the courier van and were in the process of transferring a large box containing courier parcels into another vehicle when a plain clothes police unit spotted the activities and called for back-up.

The thieves were soon being tracked by the Police Eagle helicopter and pursued by police units around the Panmure and Glen Innes shopping areas, and subsequently threw the stolen parcels out of the vehicle.

The parcels were then recovered by a member of the public and handed into police, while the offenders were apprehended as they attempted to flee on foot.

Police Northern Communications Shift Commander Inspector Turepu Keenan said credited "calm heads all round" from the dispatcher at North Comms to the units on the ground and in the air who managed to thwart the offenders escape at every turn.

"It was a great result," Inspector Keenan said. "We nabbed two car thieves, recovered stolen property, and managed the pursuit sufficiently to prevent any danger to the public - and those parcels will still get to their intended destination."

ENDS

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