$16,000 taken in armed hold-up

Press, 2 July 1985, Page 1

$16,000 taken in armed hold-up

PA Te Puke Two supermarket employees were robbed of $16,000 in an armed hold-up at Te Puke at noon yesterday. Last evening the Tauranga police were still looking for the man who threatened the two, a man and a woman, with a revolver, escaped on a stolen motorcycle, and lost a pursuer in a car. The robbery occurred about 11.50 a.m. when the New World supermarket employees were taking the money from the premises in Oxford Street to the National Bank in Jellicoe Street.

The robber, wearing a dark green boilersuit and a yellow crash helmet, waved the revolver at them and escaped on a yellow 750 cu cm motor-cycle with the bag containing the money. A passing motorist followed the robber but lost him after about Ikm out of the town.

The police found the motor-cycle, stolen a month ago and repainted, and the revolver down a bank. Police dogs from Hamilton and Rotorua picked up a scent and followed it through several orchards, where it ran out.

An aircraft was put up to assist but the pilot could see no trace of the robber.