Tourists reunited with stolen property

From left to right - Constable Matthew Ghezzi, Birgit Handl, Janina Loewer, Sgt Tony Bruce, Constable Kylie McKenzie

Two German tourists who had all of their belongings stolen from their campervan at Fairy Falls in West Auckland have been reunited with their property.

Birgit Handl and Janina Loewer went for an hours walk on Wednesday morning and returned to find their van had been broken into.

All their belongings were taken, including their passports, credit cards, money, Go-Pro cameras and their backpacks containing all their clothing.

Police officers from the Browns Bay Station were on their way to make an unrelated enquiry in Massey, when officers noticed a car with a driver that was acting suspiciously.

They pulled it over and established that the car was stolen and the driver was wanted for multiple burglaries, thefts and stealing from cars.

Police searched the vehicle and found Birgit and Janina's passports and travel documents.

The 23-year-old man was arrested.

The officers made further enquiries and an hour or so later it was established that more of the tourists property was suspected to be in a house on Royal Road, Massey.

A team of Police immediately searched the property and found more items that belonged to Janina and Birgit.

The 19-year-old tourists were reunited with their belongings this morning.

"They were overwhelmed and a bit teary.
They'd been left with only the clothes they were wearing and were just so grateful to get their gear back" says Sergeant Tony Bruce, Browns Bay Police.

"It was awesome to be able to hand their stuff to them and I admit we let out a few 'woohooos' when we found the rest of their things" says Sgt Bruce.

The 23-year-old man has been charged with a total of 23 charges and appeared in the North Shore District Court yesterday afternoon.