THIEVES ACTIVE IN AUCKLAND

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27639, 21 April 1955, Page 10

THIEVES ACTIVE IN AUCKLAND

SYSTEMATIC RAIDS (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 19. Hundreds of pounds, in goods and money, have been stolen by gangs of thieves who have been systematically raiding homes and business premises in Auckland. In their ransacking of houses and shops, the thieves have haused large additional losses. The sharp increase in the number of robberies during the last few months has imposed extra work on the understrength staff of the Auckland Criminal Investigation Branch. The thieves have been cunningly switching* their nightly raids to different parts of the city—half a dozen offices entered in a suburb one night, and another batch in the city area the following evening. The thieves switched their attention last night to a new area, the New Lynn, Avondale, and Glen Eden districts. While a New Lynn Borough Council committee was sitting thieves entered the big strongroom and attacked a half-ton safe, but were unsuccessful. Another gang entered an<T desecrated the Jewish synagogue in Auckland, ripped the back off a small safe and took a small sum in cash. The thieves entered the Sacred Ark, where the silver vestments and scrolls are kept, and ransacked it Raids were also made last night on the Avondale branch of the Farmers’ Trading Company, which lost stock valued at £4O. The thieves had a meal of cheese and water crackers. Two legs of pork were taken from the Glendale Meat Company's shop at Glen Eden, and £9 in cash from a milkbar at Avondale, where the intruders sampled soft drinks.