$25,000 of cheques in stolen mail bags

Press, 31 October 1984, Page 8

$25,000 of cheques in stolen mail bags

PA Hamilton Reports that cheques worth at least $25,000 which were in mail stolen from the Otorohanga railway station have turned up in Hamilton and Auckland are being investigated by the police. The cheques were in 13 mail bags stolen in a burglary of the railway station in the early hours of Octo- i ber 18, two days after a ’ similar burglary was foiled. I Post Office staff have i been unable to put a value < on the haul of bags, but it j could be considerable. : Detective Senior-Sergeant Lex Denby confirmed that a I

$5OOO cheque was banked to in a Hamilton bank account. So far, the police know of cheques worth $25,000 which were in the bags, but the Post Office is expecting a flood of inquiries about missing mail after yesterday’s publicity. Detective Senior-Sergeant Denby said that no publicity was given to the burglary at the time because the police were waiting for word from the Post Office on what was in the bags. Now that some cheques had surfaced, the police had some fresh avenues of inquiry, he said. Banks had been warned to look out for persons

trying to cash personalised cheques or wanting to open new accounts. "Until we get complaints from firms and individuals (who have lost or not received mail) we are not going to know the full extent of the burglary,” he said. A railway worker who arrived for his shift at the station on the morning of the second burglary saw a man carrying mail bags and followed him and a companion to a waiting car. The police were alerted and road blocks were set up, but the car was not seen again. The police believe

the burglars could be from out of town. The earlier attempt to take mail bags was foiled when the culprits were apparently disturbed at the scene and fled, leaving mail bags piled under a tree about 100 metres from the place where they were taken. About one bag of mail, containing anything from 50 to 1000 letters, is stolen every month in Auckland, according to the Auckland Post Office. However, in most cases the mail was recovered because the thieves were looking only for cash.