EXPERT BURGLARS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 119, 15 November 1929, Page 12

EXPERT BURGLARS

TWO SAFES BLOWN OPEN

CHRISTCHURCH CRIMES

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHUKCH, 14th November. The safe-blowers are apparently expert cracksmen. In the office of the Jarrah Timber Company in Moorhouse avenue two safes • were opened, one with gelignite. The burglars gained very little for their trouble, however, their total haul being only £4 in cash and £l.in stamps. It is not known at what time the attempt was made, as nobody in the vicinity heard any explosion.

The robbery was first discovered when the clerks arrived at the office at 8 o'clock yesterday and found a window forced and the office littered with papers and dust. Both safe doors were open.

The men entered the office, a wooden structure of two rooms, by a back window, which they forced with a jemmy cutting the wire mesh 'out on the inside. Apparently every precaution was taken against surprise. The workon the safe again indicated the expert. The cover was broken off the keyhole of the lock and' the charge rammed in. The keyhole was then packed with blotting paper and rammed tight with' a pen handle. The charge must have been fired with an electric spark, for a thin wire was found ' leading from the safe and out the back window. DOOR BROKEN OFF. The door of the safe was broken very cleanly by the explosion, but no damage was done to the inside of the safe. The bolts holding the door were snapped off cleanly by the shock. Clouds of dust were shaken down by the explosion, and an electric light shade, was cracked; The thieves opened the,drawers of the safe with a jemmy. In one drawer was £.4 in cash, which the burglars took. The other drawer yielded nothing except some documents, which they threw on the floor. The ledgers in the safe were not disturbed. The cracksmen were more fortunate in another direction. On a shelf in the safe they found the key of another safe in the outer office. This they opened, and again the jemmy was used on the drawers, the first of which yielded £1 in stamps. Three pennies were left. The second drawer also bore marks of the jemmy, but evidently the cracksmen were disgusted with . the small haul and left off without finishing the job. / This drawer contained. £10 in notes. The two safes were the only things touched by the burglars. They left the place by the back dobr^ which they locked, taking the key with them.

. There is plenty of cover round the place, the yard of which could be entered without difficulty from several points. '

Detectives visited the place this morning, but the thieves left little useful evidence.