Ram-raid ring dangerous and lightning fast

Gone in 60 seconds: Police believe a Ford Typhoon, similar to this one, was stolen to order by a gang. Photo / Supplied

An armed, organised crime ring has been stealing high-performance cars to use as getaway vehicles in a string of ram-raid burglaries across Auckland.

And late-model sports cars are being stolen to order and shipped overseas in containers, much like the Hollywood hit Gone in 60 Seconds, or dismantled into spare parts and sold on the black market.

Police have set up Operation Ram to catch the suspects, understood to be career criminals. Some have recently been released from prison and are known by police to be casing out buildings around Auckland to commit further crimes.

Dressed in black, the men drive stolen late-model Holdens and Falcons to ram holes into warehouses or industrial buildings, take high-end goods in well-planned raids, then flee the crime scene at speed.

Security camera footage of one burglary shows three offenders stealing 11 Bravia plasma televisions - but beauty products are also targeted, such as perfume, which is easy to sell on the black market. Electronic surveillance equipment, which can aid their criminal activity, has also been stolen.

Detective Sergeant Rod Honan, of the Otahuhu CIB, declined to comment as the operation was ongoing.

But police have circulated a number of messages on the Greater East Tamaki Business Association website as recently as January, warning business owners that performance Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore cars are being stolen and used for "top-end" burglaries.

Inspector Jim Searle asked business owners to be vigilant for a sky-blue Ford Falcon XR8, registration plate CZR237, or a silver Holden Commodore with a registration of DRJ159.

"They [the criminals] are known to use police scanners and commit their offending around the times that police are going through shift changeovers: 6.30am or 10.30pm.

"These offenders are dangerous and prepared to escape at speed."

Any high-speed chases are often over in a matter of seconds, as the drivers of the high-powered getaway cars have no regard for public safety and are known to drive through red lights at over 100km/h.



The raids are remarkably similar to a spate of audacious burglaries committed between October 2004 and March 2005 by the underworld crime ring the Kings of Auckland.

Ten people were jailed over the theft of more than $1.2 million of high-performance cars, expensive art works, designer fashionwear, electronic goods and drugs used to manufacture methamphetamine.

On one occasion, one Kings of Auckland member broke into a penthouse at the Hilton Hotel and stole $50,000 of luggage, jewellery, cash - and the keys to an Aston Martin sports car.

Other members robbed two Chubb security vans using a sawn-off shotgun to threaten the guards.

Nearly 300 charges were laid after the seven-month police investigation, Operation Strike.

Justice Mark Cooper, sentencing one of the offenders, described the ram-raids as "well planned" and executed at "lightning speed".

While the ringleader, Michael Baleitavuki, is still behind bars, other members of the gang have since been released.

However, Weekend Herald inquiries have revealed that one of the gang is before the courts on a number of burglary and stolen car charges - but is on bail. The 32-year-old was released on home detention in January 2007, then paroled in April that year.

He is due to appear in both the Auckland and Hamilton District Courts in the next few months on nearly 30 criminal charges, including unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.