A group of tourists are due to fly home today just days after being robbed at gunpoint in Dargaville.
Senior Sergeant Sue Leach said two armed men came to the door of where the Irish visitors were staying and demanded the keys to their van. Inside the van was a "substantial number" of generators and waterblasters.
The robbers reportedly threatened the tourists with a long-barrelled firearm and a pistol before making off with the van around 12.30am on Monday. The van was found burnt out on Babylon Coast Rd, Dargaville, that afternoon.
The robbers were described as Maori men in their 30s. One had a full beard and bad teeth, wearing a grey tracksuit and jacket with a blue scarf wrapped around his face. The other was described as clean shaven, wearing a light brown hooded jacket with long sleeves and a white scarf over his face.
The pair were also spotted together at the Caltex service station around 11.15pm the day before the robbery. The four tourists, two aged 18 and the others 27 and 30, were to fly home today.
Earlier this month Whangarei police were looking for a group travelling around Northland and selling generators. Those visitors were being investigated by Australian immigration.
Mrs Leach would not comment on whether the robbery victims and the group wanted by Whangarei police were one and the same.
Have any information? Call Dargaville police on (09) 439 3400.
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