A jewellery store in New Zealand has been robbed twice in nine days.
Partridge Jewellers in Newmarket, an upscale retail district of Auckland, was first raided on 12 April and then again on 21 April.
According to various media sources, police received reports of four people entering a store wearing masks at about 7.30 pm on Sunday.
A police spokesperson confirmed: “A person entered a store and stole a number of items before leaving the scene in a vehicle that had several other occupants”.
In a ram raid on 12 April, nine days earlier, employees hid from the thieves after a white Toyota Aqua smashed into the store.
According to the New Zealand Herald, “employees at the Partridge Jewellers Newmarket store had to flee into a locked back room after a group of thieves ram-raided the shop and began smashing cabinets and stealing expensive pieces.
“The employees locked themselves in a back room while six offenders, whose faces were covered, began breaking cabinets and taking jewellery,” Detective Sergeant Joseph Niupopo said.
Police asserted that hammers and tyre irons were used to smash the cabinets before the robbers drove away with a “large quantity of high-end pieces of jewellery”.
The staff were closing the store at about 8.55 pm when the stolen Toyota reversed into the shop.
The vehicle was abandoned a short distance away, containing some of the stolen goods.
A stock-take of the store was to be completed to establish the extent of the robbery and theft.
Partridge Jewellers has seven stores across New Zealand.
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