Gang holding hostages

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34151, 12 May 1976, Page 1

Gang holding hostages

tN.Z Press Association> AUCKLAND, May 12. A gang of armed Polynesians was holding the occupants of a house in Auckland at gunpoint early today. They burst into the house in One Tree Hill while fleeing from the police. Five persons, including a child, were in the home of an Auckland solicitor, Mr E. F. Doherty, and his wife when the intruders broke in. Later the gang—three men and two women—released one of the hostages unharmed. The police believe the gang is armed with two .22 rifles and a shotgun. They are believed to have two boxes of shotgun ammunition. One of the intruders is believed to be dangerous. Shortly before midnight the armed offenders squad surrounded the house and the oolice set up roadblocks. The gang took refuge in the house after police patrols chased their hired van from Parnell. The van was driven into a no-exit road. During the chase police patrols were twice threatened with firearms. The chase began when a woman returned to her flat in Parnell about 10.30

p.m. and surprised two men ransacking it. They ran off and drove away in a van. The woman took its registration number and police cars intercepted the vehicle a few minutes later. Policemen began to question the occupants. When a second police car arrived the occupants of the van grabbed weapons from their vehicle and threatened the police with them. One of the gang seized the ignition keys from one of the police cars and threw them away. The policemen were ordered to turn round, and were given five seconds to run on the threat that they would be shot. The van then left. Every' available police car and dog patrol were directed to the chase. At one stage the rear door of the van opened and the policemen in a pursuing car were threatened with a shotgun. Early today the armed offenders squad was negotiating with the gang in the house. Shirtly before 1 a.m. at the request of the gang an Auckland criminal lawyer, Mr Gary Gotlieb, was called in to act as a mediator between them and the police. Mr Gotlieb is believed to have spoken to the gang by the telephone from a nearby house.