Tavern safe cut, nearly $20,000 taken

Press, 14 January 1986, Page 1

Tavern safe cut, nearly $20,000 taken

The Tinwald Tavern will look closely at improving its security after thieves stole almost $20,000 from a safe early on Sunday. The safe was cut open with a gas welder some time between midnight and 8 a.m. No alarm was working at the time, the Ashburton police said. The Ashburton Licensing Trust operations manager, Mr Jim Burgess, would not discuss security arrangements other than to say they would be improved. Week-end takings from the bar, bottle store and restaurant were held in the safe. A total of $19,500 was taken. The police recovered $5500 worth of cheques yesterday in a rubbish container at a rest area at Ealing, south of Ashburton.

A workman had found the cheques stuffed into a canvas bank bag. The bag was taken from the tavern. Detective Sergeant Lance Corcoran, of the Ashburton C. 1.8., said the bag was wet, which indicated it had been in the rubbish bin through rain on Sunday, and was probably put there soon after the robbery. At least two people were involved in the robbery, he said, and at least one of them was an experienced welder. The gas welding machine has not yet been recovered. A machine was reported stolen from Rangiora early on Saturday morning. The thieves entered the tavern through a window and also forced a couple of inside doors, causing about $2OO damage.