Video thefts total $43,500

Press, 2 July 1985, Page 1

Video thefts total $43,500

Video recorders valued at $43,500 were stolen from the Sockburn premises of a freight-forwarding company at the week-end. It is believed to be the biggest theft of video recorders in Christchurch.

A spokesman for the Hornby C. 1.8. has warned prospective video buyers to beware of Autocrat V.T.C. model recorders oftered for sale at “cheap” rates. Twenty-nine Betamix-sys-tem recorders were stolen. This model is described as a mid-range one, and each recorder retails for about $l5OO. The spokesman declined to name the burgled firm and the method the intruders used to gain entry.

Luck, however, appears to have played a part in the success of the burglary, which happened some time between midday on Saturday and early yesterday. Last week-end was one of the few that the burgled company did not have staff working at the premises. The firm has since taken steps to boost its security. The Hornby police have appealed for information from anyone who might know something about the burglary. They are not sure what type of vehicle the burglars used, but it could have been a utility or a van.

An epidemic of burglaries seems to have hit the western suburbs for about the last three months, according

to the police spokesman. A “quite staggering" number of video recorders had been stolen from homes there, he said. The police had often said that the recorders were the biggestselling item on the "black market.”

Transport depots, warehouses, and private residences are all the targets of burglars seeking videos.

Earlier this year, 23 videos, with a retail value of more than $42,000, were taken from the premises of a Papanui company. Late last year, detectives uncovered an attempt by burglars to steal more than $BO,OOO worth of new video recorders from a transport depot in Sockburn.