By DANIEL JACKSON
A prisoner's two-month run from the law ended yesterday when armed police captured him near a remote Northland township.
Lance Michael Welsh, aged 30, was caught by the armed offenders squad in Tinopai on the northern side of the Kaipara Harbour yesterday afternoon.
Police, who considered him to be extremely dangerous, had been chasing him since the September 11 aggravated robbery of an armoured truck in Torbay.
The capture followed a sighting of Welsh leaving a relative's address in Mangawhare, near Dargaville, about 9 am.
The armed offenders squad, the Eagle helicopter and tracker dogs scoured the area for two hours before calling off the search. Welsh was later seen near Tinopai, which is accessible only by a country road off State Highway 12 south of Dargaville.
The armed offenders squad was flown into the area and captured him south of the town. No shots were fired and Welsh did not have any weapons.
During the September robbery, two security guards who had stopped to fill an ASB Bank money machine at the Torbay shops carpark in Beach Rd were forced to hand over nearly $100,000 to two balaclava-clad men, one of whom was carrying a rifle or shotgun.
Police already had one suspect in custody awaiting trial and were not seeking anyone else but Welsh. Most of the stolen money has been spent.
The head of Takapuna CIB, Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Bush, said police had worried about what Welsh might do to remain free. He was known to have a violent history.
Welsh faces one aggravated robbery charge and at least three of unlawfully taking vehicles and will appear in the North Shore District Court today.
A Tinopai resident said townspeople locked themselves inside their houses when police cordoned off the area yesterday.
Police swoop on fugitive
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.