EARLY MORNING RAIDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22824, 7 March 1936, Page 7

EARLY MORNING RAIDS

ROBBERIES IN ROTORUA SAFE REMOVED FROM GARAGE (Pbi Unite* Prkss AsaoeuiroH) ROTORUA, March 6. In the early hour* of this morning a large safe was removed from the garage premises of J. C. Bates, Ltd., and it was subsequently discovered by the police that the engineering premises of H. Langguth and Beckett's petrol station had also been broken into and small sums of money stolen. The discovery that Bates'a garage had been entered was made by the nightwatchman while on his usual rounds, and the police were immediately summoned. As the result of information that a car had been seen parked outside the garage door shortly before 3 a.m. a search of all the main roads was commenced by the police and later an overturned car badly damaged and bearing many bloodstains' was found in the vicinity of Ngapuna bridge, about five miles from Rotorua. There was no sign of the occupants, but investigations proved that the car had been stolen from outside an hotel, and it is believed by the police that the car was used to convey the safe to a hiding place and that it was being returned when the smash took place. A further search was carried out by the police during the morning and they were eventually rewarded by the discovery of the missing safe in scrub some distance from where the car left the road. The safe, which did not contain any cash, had not been opened, and the police are continuing their investigations in the hope of apprehending those responsible for the robberies.