Police are searching for burglars who stole firearms from a Whakatane property then rammed police cars to evade capture.
A man contacted police shortly after 10:30pm on Saturday to report suspicious noises coming from a shed on his property in Poroporo.
A couple of minutes later the offenders left the property in an SUV vehicle, having stolen a firearms safe containing two firearms and ammunition, along with chainsaws, fishing equipment and a lawnmower.
Police located the vehicle close to the Pekatahi Bridge and began to follow it towards Taneatua.
At one point the offending vehicle stopped but reversed into the police car before taking off again. The same police car and a second police car were rammed during two further attempts to stop the offenders, causing minor injury to one male officer.