SAFE ROBBED AT MOTUEKA

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29716, 9 January 1962, Page 10

SAFE ROBBED AT MOTUEKA

Police Set Up Road Blocks

Police road blocks were set up yesterday at Waipara and at the Hanmer turn-off on the Main South road after the theft of £165 from a safe in Motueka. The road blocks were manned by detectives from Christchurch, and are being manned by uniformed police tonight. The police are watching for a car stolen from the Motueka area early yesterday morning. The sum of £165, tn cash, most of the week-end’s takings, was stolen some time on Sunday night when burglars broke into McNabb’s Garage, Ltd., Motueka.

The safe was still warm when a member of the staff went to open it at 8 a.m. yesterday. The burglars had entered the garage through a side door, covered all the windows with blankets and overalls, and cut a hole six inches in diameter in the back of the safe with the oxy-acetylene cutting torch in the garage. All cheques in the safe were left untouched, and some of the cash was not stolen.

During the week-end, two cars were converted in Motueka. A car. converted in Christchurch, was found abandoned outside the sports hall in Trafalgar street, Nelson, on Saturday morning It is owned by Mr K. L. Gollan, 21 Poulsen street, Addington.

Numerous motorists were stopped at the Waipara and Hanmer turn-off road blocks yesterday and last evening Late last night, the police had made no arrest in connexion with the Motueka burglary. The car the police are watching for is a 1938-39 Ford V-8, painted dark green, with two fog lights and registered number 608-478.