Machete gang caught after crime spree

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Four people are due to appear in court today following a machete-armed crime spree across Auckland over the weekend.

The group were caught committing their sixth robbery of the weekend late last night, Detective Stu Hunter said.

Two 17-year-old men, a 16-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl will appear in the Auckland Youth Court today charged with numerous offences including aggravated robbery, assault with intent to rob, aggravated assault, trespass and drug charges.

In just over two hours early on Saturday, the gang robbed pedestrians in the central city, Mission Bay, Mt Eden and Balmoral.

None of the victims was injured but police said they were "very, very scared".

The yesterday's two robberies occurred in Orakei Road at 8.30pm and Sherbourne Road at 11pm where the group were eventually caught.

The gang's first attack was on Dominion Rd in Mt Eden at 3.10am. They struck again in Mission Bay at 3.48am, then on Customs St near Market Place at 4.30am and then in Epsom on the intersection of Balmoral and St Andrews roads at 5.24am.

Balmoral Rd resident Zahid Malak told the Herald he heard someone screaming outside his house at that time.

"It was a big scream. It was very scary. I went outside and the screaming stopped," he said. "Then I heard people yelling and swearing and a guy shouting, 'Run, run'.

"I saw one boy and one girl running and they turned and ran across the road."

Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett was horrified to hear of the violent attacks.

"Anybody threatening the safety and security of the community should not be tolerated.

"It is of concern to the community, especially because they were threatening people with a machete. What were they prepared to do to threaten and steal?"

He was particularly concerned about how the rampage would affect Auckland's reputation in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup, and called for more action from local and central governments.

Violence was escalating in the city and suburbs, Barnett said.

"People need to be aware these sorts of things are going on. We need more patrols, more security, more CCTV.

"We should not be living in fear and we should not be waiting for people to be killed to do something about it."

He said nothing had changed since Justice Minister Simon Power announced a package of initiatives to address New Zealand's emerging knife-crime problem in July last year.

The measures included increased penalties for possession of an offensive weapon and limiting the sale of knives through a voluntary accord with retailers.

The report on reducing knife crime revealed stabbing offences had risen from 1097 in 1999 to 1750 in 2008.

- with Joanne Carroll