'Shopper' leads police to robbery suspect

A trail left by a woman who shopped at the Creagh St Store in Napier a short time before an attempt was made to rob it last Saturday night has led to police arresting a 22-year-old man.
Detective Jeff Foley of the Napier CIB said the investigation team learned that just a few minutes before an armed and masked man walked into the shop and demanded money, a woman had entered the shop and made a small purchase using a bank card.
Officers suspected there may have been a connection to the incident that followed and made some enquiries into the identity of the card-holder. That led them to an address "of interest" in Onekawa.
Mr Foley said as the offender being sought had been in possession of what appeared to be a pistol during the attempted hold-up, a team of Armed Offenders Squad officers secured the address and police moved in at about 2.30pm.
"When he saw police arriving, the man attempted to leave the address," Mr Foley said, adding that the suspect was wearing what appeared to be the same style of sweatshirt - with a distinctive sporting logo on it - as the one which had been worn by the man who tried to rob the store.
He was interviewed by police and is understood to have made admissions in relation to the incident which led to his arrest.
He was charged with attempted aggravated robbery and was to appear in Napier District Court today.
Police had not located a weapon at this stage and had not made any other arrests in the case.
The woman "shopper" was being interviewed by police in relation to other matters.