LUCY CRAYMER
A brazen thief walked away with more than $10,000 while shoppers were making last-minute purchases at The Plaza in Hastings on Friday night.
It appears the thief or thieves entered a service room behind the Westpac ATM machine at 8.20pm, which is outside the mall, broke into the machine and
took two cash canisters.
Detective Constable Glenn Restieaux of the Hastings police said it was not yet established how the thief or thieves got into the room.
"Police could not find any damage to the door," he said. "We are obviously looking at people who may know the systems but we have not countered out anyone at this stage," he said.
Mr Restieaux said police believed the thieves then walked past the main entrance to the busy mall carrying the canisters filled with money.
They have handles that make them easy to carry.
The bank has yet to establish exactly how much money was taken but it is understood several thousand of dollars of used cash in no set denomination was in the canisters.
Mr Restieaux believed more $10,000 was in the canisters.
He said it was the first time he had encountered such a crime in his time as detective.
Police were not alerted to the theft until about 11pm on Friday by an alarm on the ATM machine.
"We have done forensic testing and we're waiting on the results from that," he said.
He said that the mall closed at 9pm on Friday so there would have been people shopping.
He is hoping someone saw the distinctive cash canisters being carried out and put into a car.
Westpac spokesperson Mark Watts said the bank would not comment on the amount of money stolen or the amount the canisters could hold.
The bank was taking the matter extremely seriously and would work with the police to track down the culprit, he said.
CAN YOU HELP? If you know anything about the theft, please phone Detective Constable Glenn Restieaux at the Hastings Police Station on 873 0500 or Crime Line on 0800 567 789.
