Three people were arrested by Police in Huntly within 45 minutes of the aggravated robbery of a sleeping man’s van.
Police received a call from the man around 2:10am from a service station in Huntly, reporting that around 10 minutes earlier he had been attacked by a group of four people wearing balaclavas.
Senior Sergeant Mary Van Dongen says he had been sleeping in his van near Lake Puketirini when the group woke him, assaulted him and stole his phone, and his van with a full tank of petrol.
“The group fled in his van, leaving him with a bloody nose as he walked 10 minutes to the service station to call emergency services.
“Responding officers located the van on Harris Street shortly after 2:30am, and set up road spikes around Tainui Bridge Road.”
The van was stopped shortly after on Great South Road and its three occupants were taken into custody at about 2.45am, with the assistance of a Police dog unit.
Two men aged 20 and 18 are due in Hamilton District Court on aggravated robbery charges, and a youth is due in Hamilton Youth Court on an aggravated robbery charge.
Senior Sergeant Van Dongen says this is a great result after what would have been a scary experience for the victim.
“It’s pleasing to have been able to locate and arrest people for this so quickly in order to hold them to account.”
